It could even be worded like this: Given most taxis across the world provide a dodgy service and hijack fees way above official metered levels (or hijack meters or add luggage fees or spend 20 minutes negociating the fare after you've made them aware you're in a hurry for a flight) to the point that most middle-class doesn't use them, ... is replacing this mafia with a batshit-awful company still a progress?
As long as the middle-class now can afford taxis on a regular basis, and the offer of drivers is in an all-time high, with better control of driver and passenger identities, then it's an economical plus for the society. Of course there's Lyft and Grab too.
Naturally, in some places the taxi service is 1000x worse than what I ever complained about, so in those places I can see the up-front pricing for Uber to be a little bit more of a revolutionary improvement.
I think overall the experience of taking a taxi is not going to change that much, but there's going to be a big repricing when Uber runs out of loss-leader. I imagine the dream is for inflation to absorb most of that by the time the axe falls, but uber/lyft/taxi pricing across the board will have to find an equilibrium. Or differentiators.
As long as the middle-class now can afford taxis on a regular basis, and the offer of drivers is in an all-time high, with better control of driver and passenger identities, then it's an economical plus for the society. Of course there's Lyft and Grab too.