It's important to remember that in the midst of Uber's corporate gaffes and other criticisms of alternative Transportation Network Companies, taxi companies are struggling, but operating. And as Shane Phillips, Masters of Planning student at USC, points out in his Planetizen blog, a silver lining of Uber et al's practices is that they've forced taxis to improve services that "traditionally sucked", in order to be more competitive in an app-driven market.

Phillips cites cases in Los Angeles and Seattle, WA, where quantitative comparison of taxis to Uber/Lyft etc. clearly show taxis' disadvantages and weaknesses. In Seattle, comparing metrics like speed, service quality, and ease of payment, traditional taxi drivers clearly needed to, in Phillips words, "get [their] shit together". Both cities' taxi commissions are working on enforcing the use of e-hailing apps, which reduce wait times, ease payments, and hold drivers responsible through customer reviews.

In the end, Phillips encourages a hybridized model between alternative and traditional TNCs: where employees are treated better, background checks are more rigorous, surge pricing is regulated, and customer service is a top-priority.