UberTAXI? Uber Might Add NYC Yellow Cabs To Its App Soon
UberTAXI? Uber Might Add NYC Yellow Cabs To Its App Soon
Yellow cabs could be added to the Uber (& Lyft) apps as a way to drive trip demand to the struggling taxi medallion industry. Idea might be in line with idea of a universal NYC ridehailing app
AutoMarketplace NYC Newsletter is written by Dawood Mian, Founder of AutoMarketplace (launching soon). He covers the NYC for-hire transportation industry and related news.
In the last AutoMarketplace piece I made a case for why I believe NYC yellow cab medallion values would likely recover from their current lows. One relevant excerpt related to the recent news of lobbying spend by Uber related to a “discussion on the potential for a yellow taxi dispatch” is the below.
“Yellow medallion cabs can actually now do street hails AND pre-arranged trips/e-hails in NYC via the Curb Mobility App. “Normal” TLC-plated cars continue to be banned from doing street hails, which is the exclusive right of yellow medallion cabs. It’s actually a fairly underappreciated and major structural advantage yellow cabs have over other non-medallion TLC-plated cars” - AutoMarketplace
Essentially, it seems Uber is lobbying (or at least wants a discussion with) the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) about adding yellow cabs as ride option on its app. It stands to reasons that if you can pre-arrange (e-hail) a yellow cab with Curb, why couldn’t you do it on other apps? I’m sure there are specific taxi dispatch licenses / clarifications around trip / take rate calculations (i.e. per mile / minute rates, apps couldn’t take 25% for medallion e-hails) that Uber (and Lyft) would need to work through with the TLC, but this really does seem like a win-win for all parties.
Uber and Lyft would probably be able to originate thousands (potentially tens of thousands) of trips per day for yellow cabs, helping revive the industry. It actually reminded me of a November proposal by NYC Council Member Ben Kallos regarding the creation of a universal e-hail app. Although Council Member Kallos assumes you don’t need any middleman at all, in reality a management layer would be needed to run a for-hire transport service (i.e., dispute resolution, complaints, customer service, ratings, reward programs, etc.) on top of an open software platform.
In fact, it wouldn’t be an unheard of strategy for Uber to attempt to add cabs to its app or engage the industry. In August 2020 they bought UK-based Autocab, which provides private hire and taxi operators with technology to run their business, including booking and dispatch software. For example, let’s hypothetically say Uber bought Curb, couldn’t it just integrate Curb’s yellow cab e-hailing option into its existing app? In fact, “UberTaxi” (often known as Uber Cab) is already available in other cities, including Chicago!
Of course, current TLC drivers, who don’t drive yellow cabs, might not be that enthused by the prospect of sharing trips with the yellow cab industry, but it might ultimately help diffuse a rivalry that perhaps shouldn’t really exist (i.e., all drivers are independent operators commercially licensed by the TLC).
If Uber (and Lyft) added NYC Yellow Cabs to their respective apps would you be for or against that? How do you think it would change the NYC for-hire transportation market (i.e., dynamics, etc)? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
AutoMarketplace NYC Newsletter is written by Dawood Mian, Founder of AutoMarketplace (launching soon). He covers the NYC for-hire transportation industry and related news.