Uber to list New York’s Yellow Cabs on its App

Uber Technologies Inc announced Thursday that it will include New York City's iconic yellow cab in its app. This shows the company's recent expansion into the taxi market and could help ride-hailing giants fill the biggest driver shortage to conquer the US market.

Uber outlined taxis as a major growth opportunity in its recent investor day, calling it a highly fragmented $120 billion industry with 20 million active vehicles, more than five times the number of own pre-pandemic vehicle base at Uber.

The company has said it planned to include every taxi on its application by 2025 and has already added 122,000 new taxis to its platform. The new addition represented 3% of its total driver base at a time when it was struggling to retain its usual gig worker drivers after the pandemic.

Passengers take a taxi for about the same price as a Uber X ride, but taxi drivers will be paid according to New York's ride-hail wage standards, which on average is higher than the metered rates, Curb said.

Uber said it has already integrated taxis in Spain, Germany, Austria, Turkey, South Korea, Hong Kong and Colombia. The company said in February that 35% of users who come to Uber by taxi also use other Uber mobility products.

The senior vice president of mobility at Uber, Andrew Macdonald has said, “When we look at the next five years, we just don’t see a world in which taxis and Uber exist separately. There is too much to gain for both sides.”