We are seeing the exact same thing here in Australia. An app called GoCatch which was a taxis-only app for around 5 years but moved into the ride share market last year. It used to be very difficult to get one of their cars in Sydney, but now I can get one most times I try. Many people seem to like the idea of a locally-owned company versus the tax-dodging (in their eyes) juggernaut from overseas.
So GoCatch works well now? I must give it another go. There is very little price difference between Taxi's and Uber here, and recently the Taxi companies have changed their tune from "it's all so unfair" to "we can and will adapt and compete". Interesting times ...
Yeah I'd say it's significantly better than it was 6 months ago. It's my go-to every time now. Very occasionally still get a driver that isn't great (no different to Uber) but I just rate them and move along. I do still have an active Uber account but to be honest I guess I fall into the category of trying to support the local guys, so I aim to exclusively use GC and just use Uber when I'm in a bind (ie. no GC private cars or taxis around)
GoCatch seemed to me to be a response to pretty terrible taxi dispatch.
Slowly, at least where I live, the dispatches for companies are being merged and centralised, often to places far away.
One of the cab companies here has moved away from the Windows Mobile (?) based terminal to just issuing a phone/tablet with an app that looks like it's from about 2001, but the drivers seem to like it.
My take? Uber and Lyft themselves are a response to pretty terrible taxi dispatch. (And, in certain parts of the US, to policies like medallions that impose a supply cap on taxicabs.) Most places I know of that have a free-ish market for cab rides (Israel, Australia, etc.) have local cab-hailing apps with similar interfaces to Uber that have outcompeted it in the local market.
