And most of that negative perception appears to come from Uber's early (not so much, anymore) flouting of what could charitably be described as regulatory captu

And most of that negative perception appears to come from Uber's early (not so much, anymore) flouting of what could charitably be described as regulatory capture nonsense. It basically took them coming in and ignoring the taxi laws to put the lie to the entrenched interests and say "See? The world didn't end after all."