The huge giant glaring difference is Uber is being aggressive to provide a better service while the mobbed up medallion racket is being aggressive to line their pockets. I know which one I prefer!
The cancelled rides here are part of the giant recruitment drive both companies are in as they rapidly try and scale up--they're trying to hire away each other's drivers.
And once the mobbed up medallion racket dies, you think Uber will still be aggressive about providing a better service?
Uber is no different than any other wannabe monopolist - they'll fight hard to monopolize the market - whether by regulatory capture or sketchy fraudulent activity like what we're looking at today (based on what we've seen from Uber, it's a mix of both). Once they do it's game over for consumers.
How do you think the medallion racket got here? This is how we got here in the first place - lots of shitty unregulated cars engaging in awful abuses, prompting public outcry. Cab companies upped their game, consolidated, fought for regulation, and successfully drove that element of their industry out. And then promptly started feeding at the trough. Once upon a time, the evil cab companies were the good guys.
There's no reason to believe Uber is any different. They've already demonstrated all the willingness to skirt basic business ethics.
Uber is a necessary evil to shake up the entrenched awfulness of the cab industry. It also needs to be kept on a very short leash lest we end up with the new boss, same as the old boss.
The cancelled rides here are part of the giant recruitment drive both companies are in as they rapidly try and scale up--they're trying to hire away each other's drivers.