Some cab companies do have their own apps, or sign up with national "e-hail" app vendors. In my experience in a number of US cities, these apps get terrible re

Some cab companies do have their own apps, or sign up with national "e-hail" app vendors. In my experience in a number of US cities, these apps get terrible reviews in the App Store/Google Play because they're borderline unusable. They often don't have all the features of Uber and Lyft, like letting you track the cab while it's on its way to you or even handling payment through the app, and they're often poorly designed and even prone to crashing. My guess is that cab companies want an app that will feed into their existing dispatch workflow, with the limitations that entails. They probably also have no experience picking IT vendors, negotiating with them or evaluating apps. Also, lots of local cab company owners and medallion holders are probably skeptical that they can compete or profitably do business with a worldwide, hypercompetitive billion-dollar taxi company. It's not easy running a local discount store when Walmart opens across town, but it's not necessarily any easier for a small supplier trying to sell through Walmart.