Toronto taxi medallion prices peaked at $360k CAD prior to Uber entering the market [0]. That seems like pretty strong evidence of the system being coopted to serve the interests of medallion holders rather than consumers.
Market forces alone (in particular: competition) don’t lead to consumers being hurt.
Market forces lead to consumers being hurt all the time due to externalities, information asymmetry, monopolistic / monopsonistic / platform owner powers, etc.