It is easy enough to switch to Lyft (I live in major metropolitan area) without any inconvenience. And the Lyft driver's I've talked with about all the controversy say they make more $$$ and are happier driving for Lyft.
as it stands, the options are taxis and not getting private transport, which is the option i've taken when it's not too inconvenient
Another interesting thing I've noticed, my taxi trips for a few commonly used trips turn out to be occasionally cheaper, and rarely more than 5 or 10% more expensive than the Uber rides I used to use... (And that includes getting home at 1am on the nighttime surcharge rate here in Sydney...)
As a friend commented on Twitter recently: "it's pretty hard to make taxi owners look good - (not drivers, most drivers NOT owners) but Uber's making it happen"
I asked 7-8 of my non tech/internet obsessed friends what they thought of recent uber scandals and if they stopped using uber. I got blank stares.
all of my techy friends know about uber news but not one has deleted uber.
Very very few actually care about any of it, people have short memory and outrage fatigue is real.
Also, if you listen to the Lyft founder talk about the company, he sounds like he actually wants to help the world. Not to say that they can't become a shitty corporation, but it seems less likely.
It's probably for the best that rates go up a bit.
Rates that are unsustainably low cannot be sustained, by definition.
As long as the drivers are getting paid well, whether it be from fares paid by riders or by VC subsidies, it will attract "quality" cars and drivers.
A separate issue is the sustainability of subsidizing driver wages from VCs by keeping rider fares artificially low.
Seeing as how leaked financials have reported Uber losing billions each year, I don't think they have nearly that much money left.
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/21/uber-losses-expected-to-hi...