It drives costs up is part of the problem with it, but how is a popularity contest not a good way to know if you'll like your service? If someone in Uber is popular there is obviously a reason for it.
To each their own. The difference in price is often as much as 300-500%. Besides that, Uber has gotten a lot safer in Canada at least because they were forced to adhere to the same regulations taxi services have. And with the Uber rating system you can make sure you only have a 4 or 5 star...