I'm confused about people mentioning "higher quality product" and others sharing stories about riding in cars with big holes in the floor, drivers peeing in bottles, etc.

Are those stories very uncommon, or does the cab market in SF etc. manage to be even less quality?

Round here, a cab is at worst an 8 year old Toyota Prius, at best a new Mercedes or a Tesla, and the cab companies all have apps that let you book rides and see where the car picking you up is right now.

I still see some Crown Vics rolling around in El Paso

Not many people were using cabs for regular travel before Uber and Lyft though.