I get your sarcasm, but I live in St. Louis, which is a much bigger region than Austin [0], and the cab situation sounds pretty similar to what I've experienced

I get your sarcasm, but I live in St. Louis, which is a much bigger region than Austin [0], and the cab situation sounds pretty similar to what I've experienced here. There aren't many places where you can just hail a cab; you have to call. And on big cab days -- e.g. New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras, St. Patrick's Day, etc -- it can be quite difficult to get a cab at all. I called for a cab this past New Year's and the largest companies weren't even answering their phone. Austin's downtown is growing, so I'd expect this to change, but my point is that you can't just hail a cab in most U.S. cities. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistica...