[Kihashi]

All I know is that in the midwest, before Uber, there was maybe 1 taxi company near-ish (usually from a newarby town). You couldn't just call a ride- You'd have to look up the taxi company's number, schedule days in advance, and pay somewhere between $2-4/minute.

After Uber, you can get a ride even in less populated areas (almost) on demand. The price is definitely lower, but not significantly. But we went from only using a taxi to get to the airport (if you could find absolutely no one to drop you off) to being able to take one home from the bar or concert.