Black cabs have a disadvantage that they were designed for hailing so are custom specified with low volume and little competition among manufacturers
This makes them very expensive to buy and maintain and a generation behind in reliability, economy, pollution and ride quality.
Even before uber they were struggling against mini cabs. (A luxury Merc is cheaper and easier to get financing on).
Throw in that housing prices mean more have been driven to live further from town increasing costs of driving a low economy into town to start work.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
