Ah yes, the word that best describes Germany is VERBOTEN!
I use Uber all the time (in the US, have used them only once or twice in Europe) and the service is great. I see absolutely NO reason, none whatsoever, to keep the European taxi mafia (for that’s what it is in most places) in business. Taxi licenses are traded at absurd prices because the barriers to entry are so high (taxi numbers artificially kept low) and the cabs then staffed with some stinking illiterate idiot who cannot even operate a GPS and tries to rip you off at every turn (literally and figuratively). Give me Uber any day of the week over these clowns!
Only exception really are London cabs which are driven by pros. That said, the famous ‘knowledge’ (that’s the London taxi test, takes about two years of study) is in a way also becoming obsolete by GPS and apps like Waze (not sure if the latter exists in Europe).
Anyway, to get back on topic – the main problem I see with Uber in our GA touring scenario is the location of the airfields we usually (have to) fly into. No sane driver (Uber or taxi) would be in most of these areas. Getting back to the field is another thing, though.
I used Uber during a recent trip to the US. Outstanding. Clean, nice cars, pleasant drivers who knew their way. Roughly 50% of the price of a ‘professional’ cab. Imagine standing at your pick-up point and seeing where you taxi is on your phone.. Used it mainly in big cities, and the availability was almost instantaneous. In rural areas things may not be that good as commented above. I chatted with the drivers. They are very happy being able to work at times that fit them. Insurance of occupants applies. They are motivated to be rated well. They don’t seem to get any flak from the existing cabs. The US is used to competition..
Let technology shape the market, not the ‘rules as they always have been’. Get rid of expensive taxi permits to make it a level playing field.
Oh, and there is an ecological bonus too in using the existing fleet of cars.
I’m quite open to Uber disrupting the German taxi monopoly, but I still feel some things have been stated on this thread that should be corrected.
and the cabs then staffed with some stinking illiterate idiot who cannot even operate a GPS and tries to rip you off at every turn (literally and figuratively).
There is great variation in terms of quality of car and driver in most German cities, but what you’re describing is definitely not the average here.
Plus, as I mentioned above, any larger city has at least one operator that values quality and cleanliness. Granted, you have to know their number – but they provide 98-100% nice, knowledgable drivers and clean cars with GPS and credit card facilities.
Imagine standing at your pick-up point and seeing where you taxi is on your phone..
Standard for taxis, too. Just get the myTaxi app. My colleagues do this all the time, but frankly, I mock them for the uselessness of that information. I call my taxis the traditional way via a quick phone call and get a pretty accurate estimate how long it takes. Good enough for me. 
People often fear competition takes business away when the truth very often is that it enlarges the market.
PS: regarding VERBOTEN, as of today, Germany is still one of the countries where Uber is very active. Other countries like Belgium have shut it down. A lot has happened here in the last few years, just one year ago, the Deutsche Bahn (railways) have lost their monopoly for ground based long distance transport and there are now zillions of private bus companies doing €19 across the whole country connections.
I used a couple of Uber-like services using iphone apps this summer in St. Petersburg, Russia. The ubiqutous private drivers of yesteryears @achimha is talking about are more or less all gone there as they joined one or several of these networks. The service has been outstanding and the price/quality was even better.
the Deutsche Bahn (railways) have lost their monopoly for ground based long distance transport and there are now zillions of private bus companies doing €19 across the whole country connections.
The first one of these has just shut down. And when we will get the minimum wages law soon (long overdue!) a lot of the others will be finished as well.
I use Uber all the time (in the US, …
In the US, every large city is surrounded by slums where people who have to work for companies like Uber have to live. Even skilled professionals like pilots of regional airlines now live in trailer parks outside the airport because they can not afford to rent an appartment from their ridiculous wages. I don’t want to live in a world like that. Countries like Sweden, Switzerland and Germany show that social engagement and economic wealth can go together. But not if we surrender to companies like Uber.
The US has improved more lives through immigration than the rest of the world put together, including my own and my German wife’s lives, so apparently the world as a whole doesn’t see it ‘what next’s’ way. I’ll look out for those slums though, now that I’ve been warned 
On topic: most US taxi drivers are recent immigrants (often refugees) with very limited skills and poor English. I enjoy chatting with them regardless, hearing about their lives and how they got to the US. I’m glad they can earn an honest living in their niche and that their kids will have a better future. OTOH I don’t particularly like having helped to pay for a local urban rail system that goes everywhere except the main commercial airport – thanks to the taxi driver’s lobbying group. The same urban rail system does have a stop especially for the transient ramp at our little airport, used by almost nobody and therefore uninteresting to the taxi drivers. Competition is a good thing to promote rational decision making, and you bet the taxi drivers should have some competition.
In the US, every large city is surrounded by slums where people who have to work for companies like Uber have to live.
Funny, one of my last Uber drivers (I tend to talk to them) lives round the corner from where he dropped me off – one of the more expensive parts of L.A.
But hey, this is an aviation forum so let’s just agree to disagree and bring it back to flying.
“The US has improved more lives through immigration than the rest of the world put together”
That sounds like a Pravda article ca. 1981.
