Yup. On more than one occasion I have been in a cab driven by someone of a different ethnicity than pictured on the license.
Only thing consistently worse are the limo/suv hawks in NY. Once I got in and asked if he took credit cards.
Oh yes of course sir.
I have zero cash. So credit card is ok, correct?
No problem!
Get to JFK, and without looking at it, he says - oh no, credit card machine is broken.
Tough shit, I say.
I grabbed my bag and got out, fuming.
He literally chased me, so I drop my bag and say WHAT?
He says, I'll call the cops.
I point at one and say, there you are, go get him.
He peeled out.
I am still mad, three years later.
Heh.
I remember one trip to LA for an event. Took a Yellow Cab back to LAX.
Sticker on the window says the cab takes credit cards.
Driver announces the fare, I give him my card.
He asks for cash, I tell him I don't have cash, I took the taxi because they take cards.
He asks for ID, so I humor him and show him my passport.
At that point
the driver of the Yellow Cab (parked outside LAX) proceeds to tell me that a US Passport is not a "real ID" and that he can't accept my card because of it.
From there my reaction was pretty much spot on with yours Stinkles. Told him he could either run the card, or not, but if he didn't, he wasn't getting paid. And there was no tip to be had after that shit.
It is a controlled industry. There are only enough licenses granted to meet demand to ensure that the business is sustainable and the population can get a ride. Licenses are incredibly expensive as they are limited in number. Only when a owner retires do they sell their license and when they so it serves as part of their retirement.
Other industries are license driven, like Salmon fishing boats. Only so many of those are granted and they have to operate in the rules of the industry.
That said, the taxi industry thought they were bulletproof because of these controls. Now that someone has figured out a way of decentralizing the business and existing on the fringe of legality.
As a person who has family involved in the traditional taxi business Über isn't a good thing because a traditional taxi business can't compete. Not because they can't do as good a service but because they simply are not allowed to. They can't just jam cars out there. They are restricted by the amount of cars they can even have on the road at once. They also only move at the speed of Goverment so by the time taxis are allowed to compete Uber will have such a leg up that the damage will be done.
Except (speaking for SF), it's been the Taxi industry itself that has actively lobbied to PREVENT new medallions from being issued here in SF. For years local govt has talked about it and the taxi lobby has always been fiercely against it (even though SF has had waaaay less cabs than necessary to meet demand). When the local govt finally released some new ones a handful of years back, the taxi industry was telling everyone how it was going to "ruin" the SF taxi market and we would be "flooded with drivers" who weren't making any money.
I'm sorry, but the taxi industry brought this on itself by acting like a cartel. When the existing companies do everything that can to artificially keep supply low just so they can deliver a sub-standard product without competition, they get zero sympathy.
