The problem with this discussion is that we are all men.

No Uber driver wants to rape any of us. Even the gay ones will find us all too old and ugly.

Just about every female I know who has taken Uber/Lyft has at least one story of a creepy/sketchy driver who either said inappropriate things or just had the sexual predator vibe about him.

Prior to Uber/Lyft coming into existence, none of these same women ever told me a similar story about this occurring with taxi drivers. I'm not saying it never happens, but I'm saying that the barrier to entry probably does make the average taxi driver less likely to be a creep.

The problem with Uber/Lyft is that any sketchy, drug-addicted pervert can fire it up and quickly become a driver.

I think you have a lot more really bad people driving Uber/Lyft, whereas with taxis you probably get a lot of assholes and route-gamers, but few who are outright dangerous.

I'd even be willing to believe that, on average, the typical Uber driver is no worse than the typical tax driver, but that Uber has a lot more on the "bottom end" who you really, really want to avoid if you're female.

As a male, I wouldn't be afraid to take Uber. However, I would not advise any females to use it when alone.