As Uber's Taxi-Hailing App Comes To New York, Its Legality Is Questioned

New Yorkers have long adopted their own techniques in the fine art of hailing a taxicab, a theatrical, frustrating, competitive ritual of the city.

There is the high-pitched whistle, the two-handed gesticulation, the rapid snapping of fingers. Many favor the classic wave -- an open palm raised high, stretching into coming traffic.

And now, a start-up company says it has developed a more efficient option.

Uber, a company based in San Francisco, is introducing a smartphone app to New York that allows available taxi drivers and cab-seeking riders to find one another. The company said the service would begin operating on Wednesday in 105 cabs -- a bit less than 1 percent of the city's more than 13,000 yellow cabs. Uber added that it hoped to recruit 100 new drivers each week.

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