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Finally, You Can Hail A Yellow Cab With An App
By
Lauren Evans
Published May 1, 2013
Modified May 1, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published May 1, 2013
Modified May 1, 2013
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After several rounds of legal hand-wringing, we have finally made it: New Yorkers can now hail a yellow cab with but a nimble flick of a touch screen, thanks to a new app from Uber. The app enjoyed a brief stay in the city last September, before it was cast out at the hands of the Taxi and Limousine Commission and delayed further by angry livery car drivers who claimed that allowing passengers to "ehail" yellow cabs was illegal on the basis that it constitutes a "prearranged" ride.
But all that's over (for now). So far Uber has the market on ehail apps cornered, but it's only a matter of minutes before other companies like Hailo jump in, too. (The Times, however, notes that drivers better not get any ideas about using Hailo before it is officially approved.)
Bloomberg, for his part, is just thrilled with all this. “The launch of Uber’s service is great news for New Yorkers and visitors to our city who want to quickly and conveniently get a taxi,” the mayor said in a statement. “Adding safe and regulated e-hail service is the latest in our administration’s efforts to use innovative technology to improve taxi service.”
We plan to test-drive the app ASAP, but in the meantime: Have you used it? Is it effective? What are you doing with your arm now that it's free from the burden of taxi-hailing? (Keep it clean, people.) Let us know.
Update: Apparently rival app company Hailo has also been cleared to operate in the city, and will begin doing so "in the next few hours," TechCrunch reports. This means the great E-Hail App Throwdown is ON.
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cabs
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yellow cabs
Lauren Evans
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