If you have a personal story on how a law was violated and given the fact it was on books for decades, it clearly is ineffectively enforced (taxi drivers apparently prefer to violate the law regularly with a small chance of being ticketed and I can't blame them if that's more profitable for them).

If only there was a system where you could call a cab exactly to where you are, monitor its position while it arrives in real time, and one that would drop you off exactly where you wanted to go. A system where you could comment on the quality of the driver after each ride so that the bad ones are permanently kicked off.

Wait, there is. It's called Uber.

In this case self-regulation and competition work better than government regulations. Uber has self-interest in making sure they work well or else people will move to a better system.

Having government erect and then enforce the laws is a costly externality of the taxi system - police officers are paid with your money too.