What is inane about it? It's the law in pretty much any major city. Without it, why would any cab register in the city? They'd just all register in whatever suburb is cheap and the city would have no regulation powers whatsoever.
At least some of the suburbs have similar rules, though they generally allow the alliance companies like 303 and American to register some cabs but use them all. I know for a fact that American registers its cabs in numerous cities for that reason.
Depends on whether the purpose of a business is to actually serve the customer or just cater to the the whims of a municipality or the business itself by jacking up costs and restricting competition and providing a source of funds to bribe politicians.
I prefer to cater to customers; guess I'm just funny that way.
Same reason unions suck.