Uber is partnering with yellow cabs to expand its network.

Uber announced on Thursday that it will cooperate with New York taxi networks, a long-time transportation competitor, to increase driver availability while the city recovers from the flu.

Uber will connect its smartphone app with those used by the city’s 14,000 famous yellow taxis as part of the cooperation, according to an Uber representative who confirmed a storey in the Wall Street Journal.

Riders may pay with a credit card using the taxi applications developed by Creative Mobile Technologies and Curb Mobility.

Passengers would pay approximately the same under either system, and cab drivers will have the option to refuse journeys that aren’t profitable enough.

Uber’s entry in New York in 2011 put pressure on the city’s cab network, which had previously operated as a quasi-monopoly.

In 2018, city officials put a moratorium on new rideshare driver licences after the number of people using Uber and Lyft soared to over 120,000.