Court removes temporary ban on cab hailing apps in New York City

A New York Appellate Court on Thursday, lifted a temporary ban that had blocked e-hail. This is a pilot program that allows New Yorkers and visitors to the city to use taxi hailing apps found on smartphones. Livery cabs had asked the courts in the Big Apple to halt the use of the app, claiming that taxi hailing apps like Uber, Hailo and TaxiMagic and others like it, would permanently damage the livery cab industry. In New York City, yellow cabs are limited to picking up riders via street-hail while the livery cabs are restricted to picking up fares at a pre-arranged time and place.

Because the smartphone apps would pre-arrange a time and location for a fare to be picked up, the livery cabs argued that the apps were allowing the yellow cabs to encroach on its territory. The city's response is that the apps are just another method for New Yorkers and visitors to use to hail a cab.

After the decision, Mayor Bloomberg issued a press release to announce his support of the court decision while the apps celebrated the victory by promoting their service.


source: NYC.gov, TaxiMagic,Uber ,TheEpochTimes via Engadget