They "succeeded" because every ride so far was subsidised by investors. It's not a level playing field for the cabs, which have to make a profit.

I’m sure the cab cartel was on life support and only tried to scam every tourist and sometimes even locals because they couldn’t make a profit otherwise.

Or their competitors who played by the rules.

I'm not sure that the uber competitors (taxis) followed the rules as much as some people seem to think. For instance, why is their card reader is always broken?