The problem is that there was a healthy free market, until the pearl-clutching wealthy decided they didn't like all the taxis that were cluttering up the street

The problem is that there was a healthy free market, until the pearl-clutching wealthy decided they didn't like all the taxis that were cluttering up the streets and lobbied to introduce licensing. It took enormous companies breaking the law at an industrial scale to destroy this artificially expensive and terrible regulatory capture, and now those same companies are using the same regulatory mechanisms as a moat to stop competitors.