Cabs suck ass in most areas of the country because of government regulations granted them exclusive rights at the expense of the consumer. Turns out the consumer will use Uber or Lyft instead of cabs if given a choice. Nothing is stopping cabs from competing.
Also, see Cable TV/broadband Companies.
My comments were purely based on the parent commenter saying that "driving a cab was never a decent living, ask any cabbie", which is false.
This is a derail. Does raise an interesting discussion of whether consumer convenience should always be optimized for though.
If you look at clothing, it's convenient and cheap because of an exploitative labor market built on appalling wages and child labor. Maybe I don't want the pilot of my plane or driver of my car working under those conditions though...
How long you had to wait for a cab has nothing to do with driving a cab being a good income.
I've been in cabs pre-Uber all across the US. In places like Buffalo, Albany (any college town, really), all over Long Island, DC, LA, etc., I've talked to loads of cab drivers pre-Uber and they were making okay money.
I used to take 20-minute cab trips in Long Island that cost $100. The zone and per passenger system in Albany made fares very expensive. I knew a student cabbie in Buffalo who paid his tuition and then some ferrying drunks between the campus' and the bars.