An App Lets You Share NYC Taxi Rides For a Discount

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The interior of a yellow cab is one of the few places you can go to isolate yourself from the crush of humanity in midtown Manhattan, but you might soon rub elbows with strangers even in that sanctuary, thanks to a new ridesharing service.

The service is now live on two taxi hailing apps, Via and Get, the New York Post reported on Tuesday. Either one will offer you the option to share your ride, and if you're matched with others going in the same direction, you'll get a discount of up to 40 percent off your fare and a reduced booking fee of 95 cents, down from the standard $1.95.

Via's matching algorithms work much the same way as those that power competing offerings from Uber (UberPool) and Lyft (Lyft Line), including prompting you to walk to the corner of a block for a greater chance of being paired with another rider.

"Just as we route the vehicle in the most efficient way, we'll route an additional passenger," Via CEO Daniel Ramot told the Post. "For example, if a passenger's on 45th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, we might say walk to the northeast corner of 6th Avenue, and we'll pick you up there."

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Following an update to the UberPool service last month, some Uber users in Manhattan must now walk to street corners so that drivers can minimize turns and other deviations from route they're already on.

Unlike ride-hailing options from Uber and Lyft, however, Via and Get won't offer you a discount if you're not matched with another passenger.

For now, the new taxi ridesharing service is available for routes between 32nd Street and 110th Street in Manhattan, although expansions to the entire borough and eventually across the city are in the works, according to the Post.

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