Cooperation among drivers is based not only on the fact that everyone contributes to costs. If taxis are too few, the average waiting time for customers increases; if, in addition, the meter starts running when the call is taken, the average fare is also higher, possibly so high that the customers will no longer choose to call a taxi. Thus, the taxi market, even though it consists of self-employed drivers competing with one another for customers, is a case of everyone wanting more rather than fewer competitors, up to a point, lest the market simply cease to exist.

XREF: Relates to concepts of network effects and the public-good character of a functioning marketplace, echoing work on why competitors sometimes coordinate.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia The Busi…, loc. 1016