It's the how that matters. Some countries have "interesting" taxi ecosystems.
I had a friend whose taxi would drop her off to a certain part of the city she was in in Malaysia. She liked him and wanted him to bring her back home later because she felt safe. He couldn't. Apparently there were taxi gangs controlling territory and he could only drop off and GTFO.
Or there's what I saw in Peru where a guy was selling TAXI signs at a traffic light. That's all it takes in some countries, whack that on top and you're good to go. Nice to get a tourist halfway down the freeway then "renegotiate".
I think that's an exaggeration. Uber/Lyft have some standards and questions before they let you join as a driver, not just a plastic sign you throw on the car. And if something goes wrong they have an audit trail. They at least know who picked you up before you went missing and where you were. You get none of that with a plastic sign.
I had a friend whose taxi would drop her off to a certain part of the city she was in in Malaysia. She liked him and wanted him to bring her back home later because she felt safe. He couldn't. Apparently there were taxi gangs controlling territory and he could only drop off and GTFO.
Or there's what I saw in Peru where a guy was selling TAXI signs at a traffic light. That's all it takes in some countries, whack that on top and you're good to go. Nice to get a tourist halfway down the freeway then "renegotiate".