[dogma1138]

Taxi's are already a defacto monopoly regardless of how many taxi operators there are in a given region.

Most countries/cities have one taxi driver union/authority which is responsible for licensing drivers and cabs as well as usually setting fares.

If anything Uber and various direct bid/reverse bid car hire services actually break down the monopoly.

Now I don't like Uber for many reasons, the primary one being that it sets a horrible example of how to run a multi billion dollar business involving 100,000's of people around the world without having actual employees. I also don't like the fact that Uber in many places actually externalizes the risk to its drivers because while France might fine Uber if you as a driver are caught operating a car service without the proper license you'll be in hot water and I somehow doubt that Uber's onboarding process has a huge warning to drivers and for the most part Uber doesn't seem to do any due diligence or much of it in places where it's illegal for individuals to commercially drive others without a proper license and a criminal background check (I know in the UK Uber doesn't ask you for a commercial license or a DBS).