Most of my adult life (42) taxis have been the transportation of regrettable last resort. I discovered uber and lyft almost 2 yrs ago while living in SF. I use them now frequently and without hesitation. All the rest is an irrelevant distraction from the fact that the services are a free-market value where time and again taxis a regulated hustle.
Taxis driver doesn't like the area, you don't get a taxi. Taxi drivers don't like commuter flow this time of day, you don't get a taxi. Taxi driver doesn't want to take a CC, you don't get a taxi. Taxi driver expects a tip on top of so called 'regulated' fairs... It's a bullshit hustle. I am fully happy for the taxi industry to die die die forever. The proof that uber works isn't that it is taking market share away from taxis, it's that it creates a market where it wouldn't otherwise exist. Most of the market for this style of transportation is untapped because the customer experience of taxis is fucked up. So, I don't give a shit what the taxi industry says, and when I hear that whore beauricrates are running their paid face holes to protect that market, it just makes me hate those grifting two steps above organized crime crony bastards more. Fuck Taxis.