I know what you mean, but London is a poor example — the well known &quot;black cab&quot; service has been heavily regulated forever, but cheaper &quot;minicabs&quot; have been available to book (rather than hail on the street) since the 1960s, and subject to a little regulation¹ since 2001.  Most operators were tiny companies with a few cars servicing a local area, until Addison Lee started running a London-wide service about 10-15 years ago — they had nicer cars, better availability and marketing and so on.  Uber set up in London under the same regulations.<p>¹ Additional car inspection, criminal record check on the driver, etc.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom#Private_hire_.28minicabs.29" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom...</a>