Well, no. Apparently if you call with a bit of advance notice it's rarely an issue. If I do it, who the hell knows. I've called the night before and still wait

Well, no. Apparently if you call with a bit of advance notice it's rarely an issue. If I do it, who the hell knows. I've called the night before and still waited almost an hour for a taxi beyond when it was supposed to come. The difference between taxi and uber/lyft variance is night and day, in my experience. Your experience seems to be exceptional to me.