London has definitely not been conquered by Uber. YMMV, but I've had nothing but bad experiences in London (multiple driver cancellations, slow pickup times, etc.) especially compared with Paris and many cities in the US.
I've spent several thousand pounds via work on Uber. This has resulted in 2-3 bad trips (which round out to 0.02%).
- Quick pick up times - Usually responsive and helpful drivers (no complaining) - Helpful carrying heavy items (almost 100% of the time) - Cheap fees - Bill splitting is easy no friction - UberPool does make me slightly nervous
The service works and is default for myself and 100s of business users, personally it works well too esp for date night.
In comparison, London Black Cab drivers are rude, racist, crass, willing to rip you off and take advantage of you. They do not have their cars auditing a lot of the time, refusal to take cash is unacceptable in this day and age and should be in place in ALL taxis. There is no excuse for this.
Anyway, by October this year they will all take cards. [1]
[1] https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2016/februa...