Private cars services are hardly a 'technicality'. They've always existed and always been competitive with taxis, it's simply that their practice was to hire by

Private cars services are hardly a 'technicality'. They've always existed and always been competitive with taxis, it's simply that their practice was to hire by the hour, and only do A-B transactions between major landmarks. Uber was a private car service with black-cars only to begin with and evolved to allow more car types, which made it competitively priced to taxis. Critically, when they began, they were intended for limo businesses to use to minimize driver downtime, hence the idea that Uber is merely a contract marketplace was normal and non-exploitive. Now, that people are driving for Uber "for fun" or "to make extra bucks", Uber has found itself dealing with a large unsophisticated assembly of drivers, whom it can be claimed that they are exploiting (i.e. exploiting their ignorance). Is it a fair assessment? I'm not sure, but I can point at other business verticals like residential cleaning services, and moving companies that function as a market of independent contractors who united only under a 'brand' that does client-contractor matchmaking. At least in this respect, Uber is not unique.