What I find interesting is the sheer size of the taxi industry (Uber included) given the costs involved. I'm guessing it's some sort of socioeconomic group thing. Hardly anyone I know takes taxis of any kind in London.

For personal use, they're just so astonishingly expensive that it's difficult to justify them. As far as I can remember I've used Uber once, to get home after missing the last public transport, and I had to really consider whether it was worth just finding something to do for a few hours until the 5am train.

I live <1h from Central London via train. The fare for that is ~3GBP off peak or 5GBP peak. An Uber costs an order of magnitude more (~30-40GBP).

It would be an extremely notable expense in my budget - probably the largest single item.

I think I'd have to have a home paid off and a fairly high salary before a taxi became anything other than a frivolous luxury, to be honest.

(Business use is excepted here. I've used taxis plenty in my professional life. Uber as a platform doesn't seem focused on business travel, though.)