Uber’s taxi hailing service returns to New York City — with some big limitations

Taxi service Uber has won the battle to get back on the streets of New York — but it’s not emerged unscathed.

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The City of New York has agreed to let Uber’s taxi service operate within the city, but has also imposed a few limitations on how it will work.

For one, while users will be able to use Uber to hail taxis, Uber itself won’t process the payments. Instead, riders will have to pay their drivers with plain ol’ cards and cash — which is significantly less cool than Uber’s auto payment system. (None of this affects Uber’s black car service, which still operates as normal.)

Uber’s other two limitations are also worth noting: Not only will the supply of taxis be limited at first, but Uber won’t be allowed to bring people to and from JFK and LaGuardia airports. Those are just the rules, and while they stink, Uber can either deal with them or hit the (non-New York City) road.

Uber’s return comes six months after New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission blocked the taxi service from operating in the city. “We’ll bite our tongues and keep our frustration here to ourselves,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick said at the time.

Hopefully, this latest news leaves Uber a tad less frustrated.

Photo: Flickr/matt-luch