> Uber, Lyft and co. would never have grown globally at such an astronomical rate (and eaten the taxi branch its lunch) if there wasn't a large demand for a 'cl

> Uber, Lyft and co. would never have grown globally at such an astronomical rate (and eaten the taxi branch its lunch) if there wasn't a large demand for a 'clean' taxi experience In my country the main selling points of the pirate-taxis (and they have been judged that by the courts) was a fare half the price. They do that by skimping on things that real taxis need (by law), for example customer insurance (private insurances don't cover passengers, if they paid anything to drive with you), professional level drivers licenses, multiple yearly DMV checkups, sick pay to the drivers, maximum daily driving hours, taxes etc.. ... We know for a fact (due to the court ordering Uber to give the data to them) that the biggest Uber earner in in Denmark took home just shy of 590 thousand dkk (93k USD) in a year. A real taxi needs to have revenue like that in a quarter to have any chance to survive... I drive 50+ trips per year (mostly in Copenhagen, but also a few in other european cities) and sans 1 (one) slightly bad experience in the 5+ years, I don't see how the Ubers are better (other than cheaper). I took around 20 uber-rides until I went back to the taxis... I do welcome the kick in the butt, that Uber gave the taxis, as multiple new taxi concepts have risen (all real, legal taxis btw).