An app-based taxi service is charging no more than $5 for most trips in Manhattan, if you are willing to share the ride. It's part of a growing number of e-hailing apps transforming the taxi industry. NY1's Michael Herzenberg filed the following report.

From "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to "Tootsie," there are few things more iconically New York than hailing a cab. But hands and whistles are being replaced by fingers and smartphones.

Gloria Gaev uses one of the newer e-hailing car services, Via. It only offers ride-sharing, creating cut-rate fares. Trips are almost always $5 per person, $7.50 for two.

"It's the best thing that ever happened to me," Gaev said.

Passengers rave about the service, even though it means sharing space and extra stops.

"It takes a little more time then the subway, but I don't have the pushing and shoving, and I know I always have a seat," said one passenger.

You set your pickup and dropoff locations on your phone. Via then notifies you where a car will meet you, its make, even its license number.

"That means he knows that I am here already. He's looking at his cellphone," said driver Jose "David" Franco.

Franco has been driving for VIA since it launched. One reason he's stayed on board: Via drivers are guaranteed a minimum rate of roughly $20 an hour.

It's part of a wave of app-based services changing how New Yorkers get around. Uber and Lyft are the most well known. They began by offering standard car service but have expanded into ride-sharing, competing with Via.

Experts think the technology matching individual riders to one car could eventually be used by buses, creating an alternative to traditional bus routes.

"I imagine this as the future of public transit," said Sarah Kaufman, assistant director of the NYU Ruden Center for Transportation.

Daniel Ramot launched the company in 2013 with five vehicles driving from York to Park avenues. Via has expanded its hours and coverage to all of Manhattan south of 125th Street.

"So at each step, we've said, 'We've reached a target utilization of the seats. This look like it's working.' And then we expand it some more," Ramot siad.

He says his 1,500 drivers take passengers on roughly 200,000 rides per week, a small but growing slice of the more than 4.5 million weekly TLC-licensed for-hire trips.

Via just expanded, with service between Manhattan and JFK and LaGuardia. Those trips cost more than $5.