In this case, it clearly does.
Uber home from the bar instead of driving drunk
Uber home from the airport instead of my wife driving to the airport at 11pm to get me and having to leave our kids alone for two hours
Uber for people in areas with little or no cab business
Uber to a doctor appt for someone who doesn't own a car (oh look....benefits for the poor!), instead of relying some the local cab monopoly to decide if they're going to bother to show up 45 minutes late, or at all.
I don't really see the downside in people having the ability to get where they need to be reliably.
And I don't know for sure but would guess the original (and truly unregulated rideshare business, aka gypsy cabs), has been put almost completely out of business.