It's really hard to tell because Uber's released data is kind of sketchy [1] and there isn't good aggregate data for the taxi market. You can look at individual stories like [2], though. Anecdotally, if you want to do it full-time, taxis used to pay significantly more, mostly due to tips, lower maintenance costs, and more efficient rides. Competition from Uber and Lyft have depressed taxi income recently, though, so it's no longer clear which is objectively better.

[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/22/uber-drivers-pay-st... [2] https://skift.com/2015/08/03/taxis-vs-uber-in-nyc-according-...

From an opinion piece in 2012 — http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opinion/they-are-taxis-not... — drivers made around $113/12 hour shift after paying the rental fee (also $113). There was a related news article around the same time (this was in discussion of a fare hike) but I can't find it.

Typically drivers who rent a taxi rent by the shift and must pay their rental fee upfront. There are ghost fleets of taxis queued up at garages in Brooklyn and Queens since so many drivers have dumped medallion cabs for driving for Uber/Lyft/etc.

Not the article I was looking for but from the Atlantic in 2012: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/hidden-c...