Re: Doesn't hide the major problems with Uber, though...
"rules are there to stop them being cheated, robbed, assaulted, abducted or murdered by random strangers"
Cheated ... Uber doesn't allow you to pay the driver directly and you can dispute any route later if it was not the quickest, you even get the route taken
Cheated ... Black cab can take you any route he wants if you don't know the locality
Robbed ... Uber records the driver who is coming to pick you up along with the car details. They rob you then it would be pretty easy to send the police his way
Robbed ... Black cab, unles you take a note of the taxi licence or registration you won't be able to trace them. If you didn't know you were being robbed at the time you wouldn't be able to follow it up later
Assaulted ... Uber as above and also you friends can track your progress and notice that the car is stopped in some woods for a long time
Assaulted ... Black cab as above, left with a good kicking you might not get chance to see their licence (Black Cab drivers have recently shown their propensity to violence, just look at the Hailo office)
Abducted/Murdered ... Uber would have a simple way of showing the police exactly where you last were, where you went and the detyails of the guy who picked you up - even your friends might be able to let the police know something is wrong way before they would normally find out.
Abducted/Murdered ... Black cab, would anyone know you had jumped into a cab and which cab it was unless there was cctv in the are and it was a high enough resoultion to make out the plate?
General attitude, unwelcome comments, unwelcome advances ... Uber just rate the driver low, enough low ratings they will get less or no trade
Black Cab ... you have no idea if the driver is any good or is a decent guy as you have no visibility of complaints or any suspensions served.
Safety-wise I would say Uber has Black Cabs beat hands-down.