@preinheimer @jbigham there were a handful of taxi firms in london that seemed to use an app (I suspect white boxed from Hailo). Most of those now seem to have shifted to the "on-demand" marketplace model (no permanent crew, just putting jobs up on the app).
Taxis are completely awful now. If you book one 2 days in advance, they don't tender the job until 10 mins before your booked time, and more often than not, you don't get a driver on time.
Zero point in booking in advance.

@jbigham @preinheimer it's also interesting to ponder that while we may think Uber won because of the user experience, the apps could have happened (and did), without the switch in employment model.
Ultimately the millions in VC money went in to lower prices to kill the private hire industry. Not to create a nice app. Not because the Uber model was better, but to make the Uber model the only option.
VC money established a cartel monopoly. The "tech" element is entirely incidental.

@robinince I thought we'd seen this bollocks off in the UK, but seemingly not. Fucking bronze age nonsense

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/12/labours-delay-on-conversion-practices-ban-is-dangerous-campaigners-say