The battle against taxi-hailing apps in NYC was waging for quite sometime now, although the Wall Street Journal reports that a contemporary Judge ruling can have, in the end, removed the general obstacle.

In December of last year, the brand new York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) had voted to permit a one-year pilot program to check and evaluate using e-hailing apps in certain areas of Manhattan, set to enter effect in February, 2013. 

However, before everything of March, Justice Carol Huff of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan issued a ruling that effectively blocked the TLC from moving forward with this system on account of a lawsuit by livery and personal cab companies, who claimed that the apps were in violation of city laws that prohibit yellow cab drivers from pre-arranging fares. The plaintiffs had further alleged that the pilot program was “in name only” and that town intended to implement it permanently.

In her newest ruling, Justice Huff stated that the plaintiffs had did not demonstrate the validity in their claims, clearing the best way for this system to start. “That an e-hail system might eventually be permanently implemented since the program proved to be popular, effective and lawful shouldn’t be a legitimate argument against it,” Huff wrote, as quoted within the WSJ.

App developers together with Hailo, Taxi Magic, Uber, ZabKab and others are preparing to go to NYC following the ruling, and NYC passengers can finally expect to peer mobile e-hailing apps make their debut inside the city that never sleeps.