I don't know anything about germany but here in the US except for a few select cities, taxi service was garbage and user hostile. Uber improved it in every way. Uber gives me confidence that almost everywhere in the US I can get a predictable ride.

You’re complaining about a five minute difference between estimated and actual time of arrival? U. S. taxis would have you standing in the rain for an hour past promised pickup, and maybe they just don’t show at all. There are good reasons that Uber, et al., were practically overnight successes.

Same in France. The initial ETA is always a lie.

What’s even worse is the ETA they give you before booking the ride. Still better than taxi in general , but that’s a low bar.

Thanks for perfectly illustrating the impact of Uber - now you complain about few minutes!

I used a "real taxi" a lot in Germany, Poland and CZ before Uber. The best approximate they gave me was "in half an hour" and it usually was more like 45-60 minutes, if it arrived at all. The usual thing to do was to take one passing by, but that got you a terrible smelly car with a ganster driver that overcharged 2x-5x.

Since you mention CZ - the taxi mafia in Prague was especially legendary. Can't thank Uber enough for disrupting that.