Spruik much, guys?
You talk about extra charges? The minimum charge for an Uber is higher than a cab, and taxis do not have surge pricing. Sure, there is a three buck charge after midnight Friday and Saturday in a taxi. That's not unreasonable, and a pittance, really. In place of this Uber have what's called "surge pricing".
At about the same time as you pay an extra couple of bucks in a cab, Uber charges 1.5 times, 2.4x, 5x, right up to 7 times the normal fare, depending on how busy it is, who is manipulating their system, and the price of eggs in China. An uber out to the far burbs can easily cost $300. And has. Aside a couple of bucks, the taxi price is reliably the same. Uber's pretty sneaky, though.
So really, it's true to say an Uber is sometimes cheaper than a cab, and sometimes it will cost much, much more. Also being a completely illegal service, you have no recourse if anything at all should go wrong.
The "wait times" I also call bull on. You can go stand on a corner on a Friday or Saturday night in Northbridge and see a sea of taxis from which you can choose. Then you will see a bunch of hipsters standing around ignoring those while tracking their Uber car's approach on their smartphone so they can be one of the cool kids.
Then they get into a froth and find a forum to gush on. Ohh. It's so convenient! Ohh it's so cheap and clean! They drive you in a car! It has four wheels and everything! And the drivers are so polite, just like they are in Bali ! Ooh it only costs two dollars to get to Sorrento and I get a free martini and a handjob!... Please.
Spare me the crap about how a taxi will never pick someone up from a street corner. They do that about five thousand times a night in Perth.
We all want to pay less for everything all the time, but remember that you are now sending your money out of the loop to Google and Morgan Stanley and some guy that doesn't pay tax either and probably is working here illegally on a tourist visa. Long term this will come round and bite you too.