How New York City’s yellow taxis are fighting back at Uber through ride-hailing app Arro
London’s black cabs aren’t the only ones fuming: across the world, cab companies have been losing customers to ride-hailing app Uber.
But New York City cabbies are trying a new way of fighting back – by giving the app a taste of its own medicine.
Hoping to win back some customers that have gone over to Uber, 7,000 of the city’s cabs are trialling an app called Arro.
The app’s functions sound familiar to say the least: Open the application, call a cab, and nearby drivers will see your location. Arro saves your credit card details, and so you can both pay and tip directly through the app.
Now, where have we seen that before?
This isn’t the first app hoping to give Uber a run for its money. London-based Hailo, which performs a similar service, already operates in over 100 cities worldwide, but was forced to give up on the US market. Several others have tried – and failed.
Arro claims to have a competitive edge in that it has teamed up with the company that controls the video screens and payment systems in half of the city's yellow taxis.
Arro is only operating in New York for now, but the startup already has plans to expand to several other US cities.