[monksy]

> 3) Only tourists and transplants believe using an app is in any way better than simply hailing a cab (with exception for storms, bad times, and bad locations)

You don't get taxis very often. From my experience in Chicago. They're everywhere you want them to be. There are huge dead zones for taxis. (Webster/Clybourn, Grand/New Orleans, Western/Armitage anytime before 6pm, Humboldt park, 5am in Old Town [4am bars have a 5am cut off in Chicago on Saturdays]). They tend to be either: a. on the phone the whole freaking time speaking Hindi or b. blasting music.

They also tend to pull shit like: "Oh my CC machine is broken, please give me cash" (which is against the ordinance), they'll try to use their square payment reader instead (which is also a big no-no), etc.

Uber cuts that out. With Uber, despite my bad experiences, they're consistently better.

[untog]

You don't get taxis very often. From my experience in Chicago.

I'm pretty sure the OP was only referring to NYC.

And even then, only Manhattan. Uber and the like have made it a lot easier to book private cars, though it's difficult to know what the green "Boro" taxis would look like if the apps hadn't launched.