I think a lot of people also forget that taxis in San Francisco, which was basically the impetus forUber’s creation, were fucking horrible at the time. Things have changed a lot since then. But the one thing I will credit Uber with is making taxis functional again.
One thing I distinctly remember from the times I was working out there was how terrified I was to be in their cars. There was absolutely no vetting of drivers, and Uber distinguished itself by doing that at the time (also pretty sure it required a higher level license, UberX came later which allowed basically anyone to drive).
Let me be crystal clear here since I know folks are going to skim my comment and think I am an apologist for Uber and just go off: fuck Uber. They are a terrible company. If you really need to ride in a car, take a taxi.