I never announce where I want to go before I get in (I have some friends in BKLN).
One time I did get a driver who bitched about having to take me somewhere. So I made an overt stretch to look at his details posted inside the car, and then pretended to be taking a note of it. He VERY quickly complied. I didn't have to say a word.
There is this notion that cabbies are discriminating against the downtrodden, but in reality, they are the downtrodden. They are low-income, immigrant people who, unlike you, actually live in those outer boroughs. People who need money so badly that they will drive a cab for a living.
You, on the other hand, are a wealthy dude. A dude with so much disposable income that you can throw $20-$40 at a cab instead of taking the subway for free. (Free as in, you already have an unlimited metro card, yes? And $20-$40 is just one way, yes? And you do this every weekend, yes?).
So you, the wealthy dude, have the law on your side. Apparently, your need for low-cost on-demand, luxury transportation trumps the basic human right to free will. Apparently, mostly white, wealthy people need to be protected from being discriminated against by mostly brown, poor people. Apparently, when a laborer refuses to take on dangerous work or insufficiently compensated work ^, we must bring in the government guns and show him who's boss.
(^) It's always money or personal safety. Discrimination has nothing to do with it and I find it rather humorous that cab takers project their own racist attitudes onto cab drivers, seeing as I don't recall a while cabbie once during my 15 years in NYC.
Also, when you say "used to routinely", you are projecting. The press made it into a banner issue, but really, think about it. "Uptown" used to be very, very poor, and poor people don't take cabs.
Is that better? I tried to use shorter sentences.
If it's profitable to go from manhattan to brooklyn that need will be served, if it's not profitable then they need to raise the price - why should manhattan riders subsidize brooklyn?
For the sake of argument, a community might want to subsidize another class of people in order to ensure equal opportunity.
Basically, Uber made a conscious decision to not inform the driver where you're going until you're already inside the car, specifically to prevent drivers from ignoring requests to go to certain neighborhoods.
Key: unlike tourists who I often see will peep in through the window meekly and respond to the request of "where are you going", when the car stops, just get in. You talk to the driver once inside. Not while you're on the curb.