I live in Western Europe, and I welcome Uber after years of waiting 20-30m in the cold or torrid sun for a car that should have gotten there in 10m, getting berated for taking short trips, having friends and tourists scammed by drivers taking much longer routes than necessary, etc.<p>Their latest move - after getting a court order to ban Uber, which they fortunately were too incompetent to get right - was trying to leech tourists by asking for a flat fee for any trip starting at the airport that would be enough to cross the whole city.<p>Regulations protecting the safety of citizens (both inside and outside the taxi) might be necessary, and Uber should be punished if they violate them. But competition shouldn&#x27;t be regulated away, and Uber for all its flaws has given a well overdue kick in the pants of complacent companies.