That experience isn't true in my experience. I was in college pre-Uber in an area unserved by public transportation and it was common knowledge that you cannot schedule a cab and expect them to actually come, and when they did you could expect a very tense price negotiation accompanied by indignation about where you wanted to go.

To push back on taxi apologia elsewhere -- Years later I lived in Philadelphia during the cab era and the city passed a law that the cabs needed to accept credit cards, but the cabs wouldn't unlock their doors unless you promised to pay cash. Even still, they'd often ask where you wanted to go and speed away if you said the wrong thing. Around the same time, in D.C., there was a "zone system" where cab fares were set around how many zones the cab traveled through, and so every rider got used to knowing the tricks cabs would play to go out of their ways to enter and exit unnecessary zones and surprise you with a high bill. They also had the right to pick up additional passengers whether you liked it or not. In NYC it was common knowledge that you just can't expect a cab to take you to the outer boroughs.