That would've never happened with a medallion in the first place, and you don't seem to gather that it was the planned route.

medallion taxi drivers did it maliciously, not unintentionally

Yeah, maybe to people from out of town. I didn't say cabs were perfect, but people are acting like Uber is beyond reproach and I don't think it is and I find taxis incredibly convenient and are almost always a better deal, and I lament how few of them there are now which is due entirely to Uber. The experience in an uber is not really that much better, people used them because they were much cheaper.