I'm sympathetic to the medallion cost/lock-in situation, but in my experience in the US, taxis have always provided a vastly inferior experience to something like Uber. You get attitude for anything bar a giant tip, you get trashy cars, etc. With every Uber I used, the drivers were friendly and enthusiastic, the cars were excellent and the app/setup is obviously a huge improvement over anything taxis do.
What gets me is that there is nothing stopping taxis improving their customer service, ditching their attitude, not filling their cars with advertising or pushing for big tips, or creating a decent app that everyone wants. That is all within their control. And they didn't do it when there wasn't competition and they've failed to do it since.
What stops them is the lack of incentive. Because fares are regulated and customers have very little control over who their next driver will be, there's literally no incentive to do anything more than the minimum necessary -- they won't earn any more. Quite the contrary, if they don't push for big tips or fill their cars with ads, they'll earn less!
Uber coming at them should be incentive enough. People speaking favourably of Uber and less so of taxis should be incentive enough.
The entrenched always spend more on a gradually weakening defence of their turf than they do on improving or going on the attack. Mainstream news (newspapers, etc) are the same.
I feel for the guys who bought the medallions but are somehow pinned under a brand or group that won't innovate. The investment in the medallion prevents them from just driving for Uber, but the actions of those up the chain doesn't improve their situation at all.
Stupid thing is that so many of the things they could/should have done wouldn't have been obscenely expensive.
I think what the parent is saying is that you need to watch what you mean when you say "them" in the context of incentive.
If a single cab driver or small company stops doing these things he takes 100% of the downside (loses the extra ad and tip revenue) and 1 millionth of the upside (making people like taxis more in general so that the industry can compete with Uber). They don't have repeat business. Customers choose/are sent taxis randomly. Prices are fixed. Hence, there is no way for "signals" to travel up and down rewarding and punishing better and worse operators.
But they have the possibility of exit, right? They generally don't own the car or medallion, but only rent them, so it's pretty easy for them to jump ship and use their personal car for UberX/Lyft. That in turn should bid down medallion/car rental fees and thus the driver take-home gross, even with constant taxi rates for passengers.
"but in my experience in the US, taxis have always provided a vastly inferior experience to something like Uber"
Agreed. But also, taxis in the US have always provided a vastly inferior experience to taxis in other countries. I live in the UK and have zero complaints about cabs here. I've never had a good experience in the USA.
Taxis in Australia (where I live) are fine. The ordering experience is a bit annoying, but they're pleasant drivers, decent cars, etc. If you're hailing on the street (outside a pub, for example), it's fine.
I seriously dislike taxis in the US primarily because of the tipping pressure. Seems to make the drivers miserable somehow.
In Asia, I have walked huge distances just to avoid having to haggle with a driver or have them reject a fare they don't like. The experience there is pretty poor as a tourist where there is a large incentive for them to hold out for someone naive.
I think the UK is heavily dependent on where you're ordering the taxi. Some cities are truly awful. Nottingham is the worst I've personally seen for taxis, but always had good service in Leeds.
What gets me is that there is nothing stopping taxis improving their customer service, ditching their attitude, not filling their cars with advertising or pushing for big tips, or creating a decent app that everyone wants. That is all within their control. And they didn't do it when there wasn't competition and they've failed to do it since.