Again: if you tried to get a taxi prior to Uber existing, it was a nightmare and not at all reliable. You called the taxi company and if they felt like sending someone, they would. Often they'd say, "Sure, we'll send someone in 2 hours," and the driver never showed up. More than once I was stranded somewhere because of an unreliable taxi company.

This experience doesn't exist anymore, because Uber/Lyft/ridesharing apps out competed useless taxi companies.

People who needed to get taxis certainly didn't always get taxis.