In all fairness, that is NYC (and mostly Manhattan in particular) which is very atypical. On the other hand, the cost structure seems insane and, like many "businesses" in .com 1.0, you have these services that are being subsidized until they "make up for it in volume" rather than simply accepting that their cost structure makes them relative luxuries--as in the case of black cars in Manhattan.
This wasn't for Manhattan. It was a part of Brooklyn that never gets yellow cabs. There's car services in most suburbs too. They're just less saturated because most people have cars.
