Crash, I have no idea why you are trying to die on this mountain, but here are the issues Ive had with cabs from 2011-2015 when lyft and uber were finally here.
1. had a pre-scheduled cab pickup at 4am for a 630 flight. 20-25 min drive to the airport from my house should have given me plenty of time to get there. Cab never showed. called cab company, first 30 mins they kept telling me cap would be there. Then they told me they dispatached the driver but driver never acknoledged the dispatch and had gone home. they then told me there were no fucking cabs available at 5am. I had to haul ass to the airport in my own vehicle and leave it in the short term parking lot for almost 3 fucking weeks. that was a wonderful $300 bill.
2. took a pre-called cab with my neighbor to Dell Diamond from basically the domain for Longhorn night. we were quoted a price of ~$60 when we made the reservation. We get there in roughly 25 mins- no traffic to speak of, and its a fucking $100 fare. Driver gave some bullshit excuse about crossing into a diff county fee. we both told the driver to fuck himeself and tossed him exactly $101 he tried to chase us into the stadium demanding a tip.. heres a tip asshole. go fuck yourself.
3. I took a ride back from 6th street sometime in 2013. I think after a football game. get a cab that specifically has "we take visa/mastercard" on the cab door and in the back of the cab itself. we get to my house and give the driver my credit card and he tells me he doesnt take cards, that the machine is broken. I tell him thats not my problem. you take cards, so either run my fucking card or leave. he calls the cops saying I wont pay. i get to wait for the cops to show. he fucking goes off on the cops telling them im a deadbeat and arrest me... blah blah. I calmly hand him the credit card again in front of the cops, while pointing to the we take CC sign. driver goes off.... cops tell him to run the gd card or let me go... driver suddenly is able to run the CC machine and gues what, it worked just fucking fine. no tip, and we all go our seperate ways. found out later that the drivers are forced to pay the CC fee themselves, so they like to act like the machine doesnt work to get cash instead.
4. dont remember when, but just as Rainey St was taking off, I and my lady friend got into a cab from Kung Fu and want to go to Rainey... the fucking cab refused to go, he told me to get out and didnt move.... I didnt understand at the time, and also didnt know that I had the right to be taken there once I got in the cab... turns out it was a common thing on 6th street for years KXAN did several stories on it. The ride was too short and the cabby wanted a longer drive with better fair. We then gave up walked to another bar, and took a diff cab home after.
Thats just the ones that stick out to me. nevermind smelly cabs, drivers who kept trying to take the long way to my place, ones who as previously mentioned dont carry any change, and then the drivers that got aggressively mad when you didnt tip what they felt they should get.
we already had the fucking cabs vs Uber/Lyft fight when Ann Kitchen and cronies took their 5k "not-a-bribe-but-looks-very-much-like-a-bribe-campagain-contribution-from-yellow-cab" when they banned them for the idiotic fingerprint fight.
you are out of your fucking mind if you think uber and lyft are worse than cabs