Two existing payment apps in New York City's yellow and green taxis, RideLinQ from Creative Mobile Technologies and VeriFone's Way2ride, have joined forces to introduce a new passenger payment experience. Passengers now have the flexibility to use either app to pay cab fares using their smartphones in any one of the nearly 20,000 yellow and green taxis in New York City, according to a press release  

Previously, the functionality of each app was limited only to taxis with one of the two payment technology systems. Passengers could only use RideLinQ in taxis equipped with Creative Mobile Technologies' in-vehicle payment technology while Way2ride could only be used in taxis equipped with VeriFone's in-vehicle payment technology, according to the announcement. With this collaboration, the functionality of both RideLinQ and Way2ride has become universal and each app will now work in any New York City taxi, signaling the taxi industry's emerging commitment to embracing new technologies for a seamless and enhanced passenger experience.

"While convenience has always been synonymous with New York City's iconic safe, comfortable and affordable taxis, it is now even more top of mind for today's New York City taxi passengers. With this initiative, we heeded the call from our passengers by providing them with new payment tools to enhance the riding experience," Jason Poliner, vice‐chairman of Creative Mobile Technologies, said in a statement. "The universal functionality of both apps allows users – for the first time – total freedom to take any of the almost 20,000 taxis and Street Hail Liveries on New York City streets and know that they can pay quickly, confidently, and securely with one app."

"We purposely built Way2ride on an open API cloud platform to allow developers to easily create apps with secure payment, messaging and other value-added services leveraging VeriFone's secure mobile commerce network," Amos Tamam, senior vice president of Taxi Systems for VeriFone, said in a statement. "In many ways, this collaboration is a testament to the value of Way2ride's open platform, which not only allows us to provide passengers with increased payment convenience, but also progress farther with our commerce enablement solutions and integration with other networks."

The cross-functionality of RideLinQ and Way2Ride is also going national. CMT and VeriFone provide taxi payment products in thousands of taxis across the U.S. and plan to implement universal functionality for both apps in cities across the country, according to the announcement.