Phoning a taxi was hell. You’d get an operator and he would throw a dart on the board as a time estimate for pickup. Then after going to the pickup area and waiting 20 minutes you’d get a call saying walk 6 blocks to another pickup area because another taxi is closer.

Have you used the e hailing apps and ordered a taxi? Its way better. Just sucks the corporate greed monster is ruining it. Although taxi medallion system was extremely predatory and terrible too

Maybe there weren't e-hailing apps everywhere, but that's not so much better phoning for a taxi.

Tell me you've never phoned for a taxi without telling me you've never phoned for a taxi

Lmao, every single traditional taxi service I've ever used has had absolutely horrendous service. From rude to long waits (Hours...HOURS LONG) to intentionally driving longer routes if you weren't local (Since you wouldn't know otherwise). For awhile Uber was even cheaper than regular taxis.

Maybe they did toss aside taxi regulations, but it needed to be done, the taxi industry really needed some real competition.

Frankly, Uber could be twice as expensive than a regular taxi and I'll still choose it, I'm never going back to taxis

They did all that, but they've also stirred the taxi ecosystem, which used to be full of rude dipshits who'd go the long way if they noticed you were not a local. Suddenly, they got competition in price and quality (the latter has been decaying).

I'm not defending Uber in any way.