Most likely this app was not navigation. Remember, feature phone, probably had less than a couple hundred MB of memory for the entire device. I assume the app would just give the taxi driver address details and what not.
In the major urban areas I've lived, every cab drive would start with "take this street to that street" or "head towards major landmark."
Even in cities with decent grids you couldn't trust a cabbie to take the fastest route.
How did Cabbies know where to show up when called?
Or did they not? I only ever took Taxis from places I could flag them down pre-Uber.
People also could tell the "main" roads, which would be known.
On a side note: my usual experience with taxis (not uber) is that they first ask the question to figure out if you know the town or not and then they know very well what is the longest route. Also even when asked for estimate of price it would always be the top.
Big reason why uber is so popular: you wont get a ling ride through whole town and you can rate the driver.
> Even in cities with decent grids you couldn't trust a cabbie to take the fastest route.
I heard these stories and would direct cabs the same way, until I realized that the cab drivers were right and I was wrong, and that the depictions of them as shady thieves who would purposely take you out of your way, or were horribly incompetent, were urban myths.
And I was being disrespectful to the drivers, to presume that and treat them that way. I don't treat other service industry people that way. And if you think about it, cab drives make more from a flag drop than a longer trip - as one cab driver said, 'people say these things to me - do you know how much I make for an extra few blocks? 50 cents? And what is my take of that?'
I learned to trust and respect the cab driver, who after all were human beings, and drove around all day long, and like most people was honest and considerate.
In what city? London cab drivers famously were (are?) required to pass a memorization test, but in American cities I've had many cab drivers who didn't know their way around. They've been generally better than Lyft/Uber drivers.
Some cities are setup so that with most addresses you can pinpoint almost exactly where it is in the city. Seattle’s a good example of this.
Also if you think of most taxi trips they will either be to a major location (hotel, airport, restaurant) or to a place personally known by the rider (house, work).