[basicallydan]

It is cheaper, but I see your point.

There's something to be said for the Knowledge, which in case any readers here don't know, is what it sounds like. London Black Cab drivers have comprehensive knowledge of London's streets which allows them to get around very quickly compared to many minicab drivers including Uber cars. They have to have this to get their licence to drive a black cab.

[mickeyp]

Yeah and just as many of those cab drivers are prone to hectoring you when you tell them which way to go... especially when they take a longer route under the guise of it "being quicker." They're also completely reckless and drive like maniacs -- unless they have a passenger, in which case you'd think they were transporting Faberge eggs: coming to slow, rolling stops and being slow to catch green lights.

They're also prone to be "on their way home" and thus, "not going in the direction you're going" if you want to go some place that is unlikely to get them a fare back into central.

Any competition against these over-priced monopolists is a good thing in my book. Yes they have 'the knowledge' and yet I still find myself giving them directions to where I want to go.

(Still, they're better clued-in than a sketchy minicab driver; but then, that bar is set rather low.)