TL;DR: A study in Singapore showed that it's hard to get taxis when it rains, because rain increases the risk of accidents, which cabbies are liable for. Since there's no compensating upside to pay for the potential extra cost, the rational thing is for cabbies to sit out the storm, and that's exactly what they do.
The parallel to Sandy is obvious: if you want a cabbie to risk life and limb for you driving in the flooded streets after a storm, then you should compensate him accordingly. And Uber does this fairly, automatically and transparently for both sides.
TL;DR: A study in Singapore showed that it's hard to get taxis when it rains, because rain increases the risk of accidents, which cabbies are liable for. Since there's no compensating upside to pay for the potential extra cost, the rational thing is for cabbies to sit out the storm, and that's exactly what they do.
The parallel to Sandy is obvious: if you want a cabbie to risk life and limb for you driving in the flooded streets after a storm, then you should compensate him accordingly. And Uber does this fairly, automatically and transparently for both sides.