Wait a minute...

Last time I checked, France was still a quite functional first world economy, independent of recent attempt by certain press outlets to place it near every ideological precipice you can think of (I'm looking at you, The Economist).

Taxi drivers have higher costs than Uber drivers because of two reasons: Firstly, they must comply with lots of regulations that are specific to taxis and the driving thereof. Secondly, they are unionized, thus keeping the taxi rates from dropping too low.

Both points deserve to be debated and none of them is a no-brainer in favor of Uber. Especially regarding the regulation issue, I personally am not inclined to sympathize with Uber. Most of that regulation is there for a reason.