seriously? NYC has one of the best taxi networks prior to uber. Try taking a taxi in the bay area to understand a truly dysfunctional taxi system.

I attempted to use a similar system to the one you described in vancouver where there is no ride sharing it basically failed to work at all and I had to resort to the old "call a taxi company and wait indiscriminate amount of minutes." At least their credit card systems worked which as you said is a common issue in taxis here too (I have several times had a mexican standoff with taxi drivers here until their machines magically started working).