One thing they provide as well is price transparency. You know how much you will pay when ordering a ride. You get a nice receipt with a map and the route after

One thing they provide as well is price transparency. You know how much you will pay when ordering a ride. You get a nice receipt with a map and the route afterwards. No cash changes hands. All this makes it much safer than traditional scummy taxi industry where getting a ride for 2-3x the price because of some technicality was common occurrence. Being drove around by longer route was standard as well. It's likely not true for all areas or countries but here Uber provided so much better experience that I would use it even if it was more expensive. It's the best thing that ever happened to taxi customers here as now many other players implemented apps with similar features to Uber. Even if they go bust I will remember them for making my life much better.