I think eventually they'll legalize the apps, just a year or so ago I saw they were looking at it. The uproar over Uber leaving might be just what's needed to make some progress on that front.

Perhaps what is most frustrating is that the legal situation makes it impossible to do something like what Grab does in Asia, where a user just asks for a ride and both taxis and private cars participate as suppliers.

Uber is extremely popular with the upper classes here. I doubt all the apps could be illegal for very long.