Hailing cabs by phone (and later on, using the non-Uber hailing services that interact directly with cabs) never worked as well for me as Uber. Takes too long for them to get there, and the incentive for them to abandon your request and pick up a fare they find on the way is too strong.
Taxis only make sense in the very small perecent of the US where you can walk outside and hail one coming down the street.
Reminds me of a story I saw (I think on reddit) where someone had booked a cab for a 5am trip to the airport, and after it didn't show up after 30 minutes they just called an uber. They hadn't taken a cab since.
I know it can be an issue on the driver side in terms of job security, but poor customer service and behaviour is weeded out much better on ridesharing apps due to how their rating and tracking systems work.
In Germany, we have two types: Funkmietwagen (kinda "callable cabs") which can't pick up someone without being called and proper taxis which both get dispatched but can also wait at taxi ranks to pick people up (or pick someone up on their way somewhere when empty).
Neither of those would abandon someone they've been dispatched to and dispatcher estimations are usually pretty accurate.
> Takes too long for them to get there, and the incentive for them to abandon your request and pick up a fare they find on the way is too strong.
The few times I've reserved a taxi for someone the estimation was accurate and the driver very friendly. Same for the company I work for, no real issues with taxis. Company wise it's often easier to just take public transport though (quickest to/from airport).
Taxis only make sense in the very small perecent of the US where you can walk outside and hail one coming down the street.