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I travel to India frequently. Before Uber (or their local variant, Ola) came along, getting a taxi was nearly impossible in middle-tier cities. The only option was an auto-rickshaw, whose drivers were notorious for gouging. And they formed a cartel: if you turned down one driver, the others would see that and refuse to give you a ride.

Uber was a god-send. You call up the driver, watch him approach on your phone, step out when he's there. Regardless of where you were, you could get a ride from there to wherever you were going. Rides for which auto-rickshaws used to charge upwards of Rs. 300 (~$4), can now be had for Rs 150 or less ( < $2 ).