That's a lot of emotion for 10 taxi rides. I'm not sure if I've ever met someone who has taken fewer cab rides. I've taken hundreds, and somehow missed this hellscape that Uber boosters keep informing me of.
I like walking or using public transport systems, and I spent most of my time living in big cities.
but sometimes I had to, or I was curious to explore this option, and I've been disapointed.
The worst experience was a drunk cab driver, smelling like he vomited just before taking the course. I had to stop him midway as it felt really unsafe.
Some businesses are expensive, because they offer a very high coverage. In my country, traditional cab companies needed to offer their service pretty much 24/7 if needed, in order to operate. This, of course, meant that the expenses were thrown onto the customers.
When Uber and the likes came, this disrupted the industry. But the big difference here is that the Uber drivers obviously only
A) worked during peak hours and peak days.
B) only used it as a side hustle, which meant not staying up at 3AM waiting for customers. Sure, in large cities, there probably are some of those drivers, too - but they're not obligated to that.
Traditional cabs couldn't compete on price, and had to either start laying off drivers, or close shops all-together.
Then the gov. budget, and started opening up to more uber-friendly laws around the taxi industry. They are no-longer obligated to offer 24/7 service, nor do you need to work for a cab company.
In the end, I (living out in a rural place) end up paying the same rates as before, but with zero options should I need a cab 04-05 in the morning. Not really a problem until you need one, like catching a very early flight, getting stuck somewhere after a party, or whatnot.
Our dependency on a car for all forms of transportation is what created this opportunity for a corrupt taxi business and Uber to disrupt that corrupt taxi business.
Too much regulation and a generally awful experience for users.
I used Taxis less than 10 times in my life ant it was almost always too expensive and frankly unpleasant.
I honestly despised Taxis and wanted this old system to die, I don't think my case is an outlier.
Regulation is always a two edged sword, in this case I think it created an opportunity for disruption.