Doesn’t matter, nobody will use it. Taxi service in japan is good enough to where this won’t be a big factor. Ride hailing services are much more expensive than taxi’s.
Cab drivers in Japan usually take pride in their work. It’s not uncommon to see one waiting outside a home and scrambling to meet the passengers at their front door with an open umbrella.
Having said that, in Kyoto, more than anywhere else, a lot of the drivers are crabby I’ve noticed. I think they get tired of dealing with rude tourists day after day.
This is more of a Japanese work mentality than cab drivers being some high-skilled craftsman type class of workers. Cab drivers in Japan are generally very overworked and the demographics look quite bad: average age is something like 55, few newcomers because the pay isn't good and the hours are bad.
Nothing to do with "pride in their work". When there is competition usually what makes the difference is the quality of service or the human touch. A cab ride is pretty much the same from one cab company to the other, so they try to differentiate with other things, such as knowing their regular customers.
Yes, that's the same thing I felt when I saw the article. It seems like an app for the wrong time and place.
Now if they had something to reduce the cost of a taxi, like a group taxi app where you may have to book in advance but you pay 1/5th of the normal fare since you share the cab with other people, that may be somewhat interesting. Such services exist but not as an app, as far as I know.
https://www.rbb24.de/content/dam/rbb/rbb/rbb24/2018/2018_10/...
I've never had issues with taxi drivers trying to scam me in Vienna.
I don't like Uber as a company, but I dislike Taxi's in foreign countries a lot more. It is not the foreign part that I dislike, but not knowing the formal and informal rules. What if the meter starts at 5 euros? Is that a normal amount here? What if the meter isn't turned on and the driver insists that I make a deal? Is that normal here? etc. Uber might be more expensive than local taxi's in some places, but at least I know what I get.
hint: never get into freelancer taxis.