Even in the biggest cities if you got 15-20m outside the downtown you were totally out of luck pre-Uber. I have many memories of "calling a cab" in south San Francisco on a friday night and pretty much being laughed at. Uber/Lyft were literally magic when they first came out and you could see your driver coming to you on a map.
Literally. Seattle was pretty okay with taxi service in 2011, but in San Francisco, the same taxi company that dropped me off in South San Francisco one day in early 2012 just told me I was on my own and they could not help me when I tried to get a ride home. No numbers for partner companies or suggestions or anything. I was stranded, and willing to pay top dollar. I could not believe the complete failure of the market just a few minutes outside the city.
San Francisco taxis were the worst. It was impossible to get a cab on Friday and Saturday nights, and they always blocked any attempts to add more cabs to the roads. I have zero sympathy for them.
I've had Taxis drive away when someone in my party said "we're going to <place in South Brooklyn>" before anyone got in the vehicle. Cabbies don't want to leave Manhattan. And for that reason you also won't find them outside Manhattan. There's the green borough cabs, but good luck finding one to flag down on a random street in Bay Ridge.
