I mean, many small towns have local food joints, but people driving by the highway will still stop at the McDonalds. I think Uber is kinda the McDonalds of tran

I mean, many small towns have local food joints, but people driving by the highway will still stop at the McDonalds. I think Uber is kinda the McDonalds of transportation; travelers pretty much never want to bother finding out what the local taxi company is called nor they want to take risks with possibly unreliable/sketchy service. I think Uber Eats' marketing of "we're not the jealous type" kinda expresses it well: there are use cases where Uber is undoubtedly superior (convenient ride summoning), and for other cases where cabs fit the use case, it's often a low-stakes choice, such that things like branding and reputation might trump other qualitative metrics such as price. And for what it's worth, in many markets, Uber offers a bunch of price-oriented services that taxis simply aren't able to: the pool service was the most well known offering in the US, but in Brazil for example, it also serves "I need a ride NOW, and willing to pay premium, take my money" (the Prioridade service) and "I'm very price sensitive and willing to ride a motorcycle to save a few bucks" (the Moto service).