Uber's going all out to secure its foothold in America's most populous city. And now it looks like the company's picking a long fight with New York City's mayor in its own app.The feature is now available as an extra tab on the Uber app's map screen—if you look at the slider at the bottom of the app, the company added a "de Blasio" option on the far left. Sliding to that wipes out all Uber car markers and brings up a dialog asking asking users to email New York City councilors.
The "de Blasio tab" is the latest salvo in the ridesharing company's protests against the mayor's plans to cap the company's growth to 1 percent per year to study traffic congestion, while smaller operators could grow up to 15 percent. Just last night, they ran an attack ad featuring Uber drivers nailing de Blasio for "giving in to the taxi industry."And before that, they've paid for rides so people could picket City Hall, where police shut out dissenting cabbies and some members of the press (us included, for a while) for what appear to be safety reasons.So what do you think? Is Uber playing dirty, or is it justified in trying every trick up its sleeve?