Totally agreed. I am on a business deal that brought me to the country of Qatar. Many of the yellow cabs here (blue over here) refused to turn on their meters instead trying to negotiate a fare with you -- often starting at 2x or 3x the actual fare and trying to see how much upside they could keep. They would be nice initially and then try to arm-twist you at the end of the ride. Uber arrived and caught on like wildfire. You didn't need to negotiate, they didn't need to pretend not to have change, etc. The no-nonsense system is what makes Uber so remarkable.
I mean it really depends... like in Morocco this never happens, unless you look foreign. All taxis have a number on the top of the car, so you can just easily report it. And the penalties for drivers are actually quite harsh, even just referring to 'I know the taxi number' means he's shutting up, turning on the meter and getting you to where you need.
You can still have a shitty experience, but for locals it's mostly fine. I doubt Uber will take off there in any big way. I'm wondering if that's the same way for Qatari locals, or if there was another reason for Uber to catch on.
