Yes, you're wrong lol. There are no issues using route taxis, just try not to take seats that need to be used by workers and students at certain times of the day. What did you do on your last trip? Did you get in a shared taxi running a fixed route and pay the per person route taxi price, or did you "charter" the red plate to yourselves and negotiate a rate?
The real issue now is getting rides from someone, even if a friend, who doesn't have a red plate since that's illegal and you both can be fined.