Over the past year or so, I've come to the conclusion that there is never any reason to hail a taxi when Uber is an option. Tonight against my better judgment, I hailed an easily available taxi, only to have to ask him why he was taking me two miles out of the way on a three mile ride home. It's all Uber from here on out for me. I'm tired of having to negotiate with cab drivers.

Uber needs to be kept out until they're prepared to follow all the same worker protections and safety requirements as everyone else.

Which safety requirements? Nearly all of the discussion of Uber I've seen has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with protecting an industry that was not meeting the needs of its customers.

My smart phone is an older Nokia so not compatible w/ Uber, therefore I don't have a dog in this hunt. But what worker protections & safety requirements do taxi cabs offer?

I don't disagree, but since Uber drivers are contractors and not employees, they're really not obligated to provide much in the way of that.