[p0wn]

They allow non medallion cars aka the black private car service cars but I think you needed a medallion to pick up a person hailing a cab off the side of the road... ie you didn't call the car service to come pick you up.

With uber they're still not picking people up that are physically hailing them. They are relying on technology aka smartphones to get around this.

[falcolas]

Personal experience has shown that Ubers will in fact pick up folks who hail them, you just have to then set up the ride via the app afterwards.

Found this out while waiting an hour for an uber driver - three others drove by and responded to my waving them down to see if they were my uber, and offered to take me (looking back, I should have taken them up on the offer).

This, ironically, turned me on to the taxi system in NY. They were just more reliable at the time.