As other commenters mentioned, the quality of Uber definitely has decreased. Worse than what you are saying, not only do you have mediocre cab drivers but also

As other commenters mentioned, the quality of Uber definitely has decreased. Worse than what you are saying, not only do you have mediocre cab drivers but also people that basically don't know what they are doing. UberX is the worst offender here and UberBlack generally has provided good service. If the only option is UberX I will probably take a cab instead. Based on what Uber is spending on acquiring new drivers I would assume they have eased up on threshold for booting poorly rated drivers. Based on the recent revelation that the map view of nearby cars is now simulated I would assume that the published reviews should no longer be taken at face value either. At the beginning the pitch went something like Uber would win because it had so much data that it would be able to route drivers much more efficiently than any new competitor. The pick up times rather have gone the other direction over the year. If anything, there are far more opportunities for vehicle transport services now. I wondered, what if the future Uber, rather than offering the awesome service it had in the beginning, ended up being just as mediocre as what we had before -- cabs, buses, towncars you booked a day before -- but just in different ways?