Uber started out well as your "personal chauffeur" with premium cars and polite, professional drivers. Then they started chasing numbers and valuation, and it was all downhill from there.
If by 'downhill' you mean 'their business expanded massively and they became a global phenom', then yes.
They were never necessarily professional drivers, and the drivers today are just as 'polite'.
The market for NYC 1% high end cars is very small compared to the value of unlocking the big marginal market inefficiency brought about by medallions.
All of that said - a bit of technology and flexibility by the world's cities and taxi fleets would have made them a lot more money and made Uber pointless.
I very occasionally used the premium options but other than a nicer vehicle there really wasn't a premium service, mostly regular ubers were clear and drivers decent (on average much better than my taxi experience pre-uber). If it was a busy area its still hard to find the car/driver. Never really felt like I was getting my money worth and I just go with the basic service, it still gets me from A to B.
Chasing? I'm pretty sure they only had regular people in regular cars give you a ride when lyft came around. They had to match the service or lose customers
They were never necessarily professional drivers, and the drivers today are just as 'polite'.
The market for NYC 1% high end cars is very small compared to the value of unlocking the big marginal market inefficiency brought about by medallions.
All of that said - a bit of technology and flexibility by the world's cities and taxi fleets would have made them a lot more money and made Uber pointless.