If I may: Uber success comes from the feedback mechanism that drives the quality of the ride — at least in Paris. Taxi services are slightly cheaper, and in my case (lived 20 years on the top roaming axis) and all my friends, generally quite fast. I’ve been happy to pay extra to be in a car where the guy doesn’t smoke or actively tries to roll over bicycles, respects road safety, or asks me to support deeply racists views. When travelling, I don’t mind carrying my luggage, but I like to pick it up from a safe place, not the middle of the busiest boulevard. I also occasionally appreciate when the guy doesn’t respond “Where the fuck is that hellhole?!” when I give my address (that happens to be the easiest to locate in Paris — it's literally so symbolic that it's the one used by the taxi union for their official photo).

To be honest, my uncle has access to a premium taxi service: the yearly fee is a bit high for me to consider it, but the service is similar (minus the iDevice charger until recently) and I have no qualms with them. I generally frown on luxury, but common taxi drivers are so horrible creatures that I gladly shell out to Uber when I need to.