This is incorrect. We have had private hire vehicles in Australia for years. Many of them are now also taking rides via Uber, but I've had black sedans to/from the airport for as long as I can remember.

The only things Uber add to the service mix is an app and a bad attitude, neither of which create any value for me.

I've never heard of private hire cars being used by consumers and ordinary people sure as hell aren't using them to goto the pub or shopping centre and back.

What Uber brings to the table isn't high end hire cars but rather UberX which is a game changer for price and quality. Finally taxis can't refuse to take you somewhere or not use the GPS. And not sure how you had a "bad attitude" experience given how seriously drivers take their ratings.

Let me correct you. I am a consumer and I use private hire cars, because I value their professionalism, cleanliness and punctuality which comes for a very modest premium.

This often surprises Australians, so if you are one of them you're not alone. In my view Australia has a culturally ingrained reverse snobbery, which leads to false judgements about value and utility.

The "bad attitude" I believe is clearly attributed to Uber, not their independent not-employees-at-all contractors, whose exploitation, low income, and zero benefits I have some limited sympathy for.

Private hire cars are not a realistic alternative to Uber or taxis in most cases, since they generally have to be booked well in advance. In Australia, they're also significantly more expensive than taxis.

Wrong and wrong. I took one to the airport today, I called thirty minutes ahead, and it cost less than a metered fare.

Where in Australia are you, and what company did you use? In both Sydney and Melbourne, all the hire cars I know of cost more.

Melbourne, and I have a VHA account. Metered fares from my home to MEL are inflated by extensive never-ending roadworks. The fixed-rate private hire cars are excellent value for that route. For everything else it's a modest premium, and one I'm very happy to pay.

Exactly. I'm in Australia and have no idea how Uber and taxi prices compare. I use Uber because of the quality of their product.

Not a big fan of Uber as a company though. If Lyft of another viable competitor set up shop here then I'd be open to switching.

I can give a very small sample of data. Uber is $30-33 to my suburb on a Thursday night. I even had a $28 once which is ludicrous (I calculated the theoretical minimum cost of the route to be around $27.50 so it was almost a perfect run).

I've caught taxis on the exact same route twice because my phone was dead and I couldn't order an Uber. One was $48 and the other was $55. I believe it's more on a Friday or Saturday (they have some 'off-peak' fee or something), but Uber obviously has the occasional surge on those nights too.

Using Taxis, in Melbourne at least, seems to be lighting money on fire.