[Jtsummers]

Cabs and car services were (and still are if we ignore Uber and Lyft) effectively non-existent in many small to medium sized towns. And where they existed, they were exorbitantly priced. Where I lived (while Uber and Lyft were becoming popular) the local taxi service had around a dozen cars for a community of around 250k people. The only other transportation services were catering to the elderly and infirmed and pretty much just drove to hospitals and clinics.

Uber and Lyft introduced an option there (and in many similar towns and cities) that did not, or effectively did not, exist at the time.