re: Do you take pleasure in the Taxicab industry's decline?

Absolutely.

I'm sure it's similar in other cities, but when DC cabs were forced to start accepting credit and debit cards, the cabbies intentionally broke their card readers so that payment via card couldn't be accepted. Once you'd try to pay by card, they'd say they needed cash, and would do shite like say they needed to drive you to an ATM before the ride could end.

While it was easy to get out of having to pay if their machines weren't working, it was the case for every 2/3 cabs I'd take before Uber came along. Now they're all happy to take card and don't complain at all. They'll still pull shite like intentionally taking you longer routes, though, so frick them.