I won't say there's none, but there was a taxi app for me before Uber that knew where I was and let me book a taxi, that wasn't innovative.
> Back then, you had to know the phone number to call -
A benefit sure, but "being big" is not an innovation.
> Trying to hail a cab during a busy holiday? Good luck with that
Here when it's busy I can't get an Uber but I can book my local service. Uber is way less reliable here.
> route-planning software.
Every uber here uses Waze.
> Waiting for the cab? Better stay put where you are since they can't see your live location.
Hah! I've repeatedly had issues where Uber cars didn't seem to know where I was, their app put me in the middle of a lake once and I kept moving about trying to figure out where the hell I could meet the taxi because their position made no sense either. They cancelled on me and I had to chase them down a street and rebook, hoping it would connect to them.
Back then, you had to know the phone number to call - I'd try to be diligent about keeping a taxi number in my contact list but it's invalid when I really need it when traveling in a different city.
Trying to hail a cab during a busy holiday? Good luck with that - cab splitting existed but nowhere near as frictionless as through apps + route-planning software. Plus phone calls usually didn't make it to the dispatcher during extremely busy times (walking out of a bar on new years).
Waiting for the cab? Better stay put where you are since they can't see your live location.