Uber has been wonderful. My LA taxi experiences were (past tense intentional) poor to middling. They included:

(1) one-half of fares: unpleasant cars with surly drivers, inflated fare per meter, often additional surcharges insinuated by driver
(2) one-third of fares: intentional overcharge attempts by driver; attempts at fraud or other theft by driver
(3) one-sixth of fares: direct belligerence by driver, including assault and attempted battery