Uber, whose ride-hailing service disrupted the taxi industry, is now partnering with all the taxicabs in its home turf of San Francisco, The Chronicle has learned.

Uber’s deal signed Monday with Yellow Cab SF and Flywheel Technologies means that Bay Area passengers who summon an Uber ride might see one of the city’s 1,075 taxis show up to ferry them in the coming months. Last month Uber signed a similar pact to put all New York City cabs on its app.

Taxis and Uber have long been at loggerheads. Uber founder Travis Kalanick famously scorned the industry as greedy and corrupt, while taxi drivers resent the startup’s lighter regulations as unfair. But Uber now sees taxis as a natural growth area — in fact, it hopes to have every taxi in the world on Uber by 2025, an executive said recently.

For Uber, the San Francisco partnership provides hundreds of additional drivers at a time when its contractors have been slow to return from pandemic hiatuses. For cab drivers, who saw ride-hailing siphon riders and now are struggling to recover from the pandemic, it brings additional customers — albeit sometimes at lower prices, since Uber fares are often cheaper than those of taxis, although they can be higher during “surge,” or times of high demand. For riders, it increases the supply of cars.

“San Francisco taxi drivers will have more access to demand and cities will get fewer empty miles driven, which is a win for drivers, riders and the cities we serve,” said Dennis Cinelli, Uber vice president of mobility for the U.S. and Canada, in a statement.

Clearing the way for the deal, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board voted Tuesday to allow taxis to accept flat upfront fares —which could be different than metered rates — for e-hailed rides originated through a third party. The one-year pilot will be implemented by Aug. 5.

A little more than a dozen cabdrivers spoke out against partnering with Uber during the SFMTA meeting, while about four drivers and four cab company owners spoke in support of the idea, saying it would generate needed new business.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle