Going my way?
Uber is planning to stick another thorn in the side of the city’s yellow taxi industry on Thursday with the launch of a cab-pooling service that could knock down rates for users by 50 percent or more.
Using UberPool, riders on similar routes who don’t mind traveling with strangers would be able to split the fare among one or more people going their way.
“At any given moment in New York, there are a lot of look-alike trips,” said Rachel Holt, East Coast general manager at Uber. “For riders, there’s an opportunity for a lost of cost savings.”
The disruptive car service company says the plan, which has already launched in Paris and San Francisco, could lead to fares as low as $7.50 from Williamsburg to the East Village and $10 from Nolita to Lincoln Center.
While it does lengthen a trip to chauffeur extra people, Holt said ride times for pool users in San Francisco have increased by less than five minutes on average.
Only two users are matched per ride, but each of them can have one person accompany them — for a total of four passengers.
“If there’s someone too far out of the way, you won’t be matched,” she said.
The service is likely to make another dent in the old-fashioned yellow cab industry — which piloted a limited cab-sharing service in 2010, but otherwise only offers such services in emergencies such as Superstorm Sandy.
As The Post reported last month, the influx of Uber and other app-based car services in the city has contributed to a plunge in yellow taxi medallion prices of at least 15 percent — to below $850,000.
Uber doesn’t release numbers on its services, but Holt said the firm coordinates “hundreds of thousands” of cab rides per week in New York City.
She said the firm’s average rates are 5 to 10 percent lower than those of yellow taxis.
But the company has also come under fire from a Brooklyn legislator in recent weeks for its surge pricing — which hikes fees during storms and at peak travel hours.
City Councilman David Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) introduced legislation last week seeking to limit the surge pricing, which he called “price gouging,” to twice the regular rate.
In a settlement with the state attorney general this summer, the company agreed to stop surge pricing during emergencies and natural disasters.
Uber officials have said 80 percent of the rates charged go to drivers.