[logfromblammo]

Uber and Lyft are not taxis. They are at most livery cabs.

They do not and should not operate under the same rules as taxis. They are much more like the airport shuttle services that have been operating without taxi licenses or medallions for decades. They simply have a novel way to summon the vehicle that does not involve placing a voice call to the company's scheduler and dispatcher.

There are more types of vehicle-for-hire services than just taxicabs, and they don't need to follow the same regulations.

[Mikeb85]

Livery cabs around here do need to follow most of the same regulations. In fact, they apply to any situation where anyone is driving a vehicle for commercial reasons (say, a courier, moving service, any sort of taxi/cab, etc...).