You live in NYC. That's just not indicative of the market as a whole though. I live in Minneapolis, where calling a cab is pretty much a worthless exercise. Uber has revolutionized the way I both commute to the airport (I can actually rely on it showing up within 30 minutes, a called cab may or may not show up at all) and how I can go out on the town at night. Previously my options were driving, or possibly a pre-arranged (as in 24 hours notice) black car.
I also spend a lot of time in Chicago, and there I do agree - the cab infrastructure works pretty well. I still use Uber, as it's far more convenient and reliable than calling a random cab company and waiting around for it to possibly show up (or waiting outside in the cold spending 30 seconds to 10 minutes flagging one down). Even in Chicago you get a 30% failure rate on radio dispatches.
It might be an easy problem to solve, but Uber is the first to realistically turn it into a useful service in many markets.
I also spend a lot of time in Chicago, and there I do agree - the cab infrastructure works pretty well. I still use Uber, as it's far more convenient and reliable than calling a random cab company and waiting around for it to possibly show up (or waiting outside in the cold spending 30 seconds to 10 minutes flagging one down). Even in Chicago you get a 30% failure rate on radio dispatches.
It might be an easy problem to solve, but Uber is the first to realistically turn it into a useful service in many markets.