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That's because the high school kid's expenses are heavily subsidized by VC fund of mom & dad. At some point, they'll likely get sick of footing that bill. The same goes for Uber and friends.

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Uber and Lyft (and AirBnB, VRBO, and Homeaway) are also subsidized in many cases by “I already own an expensive asset and carry all the fixed costs already, so I just need to make a profit over marginal costs”, which is largely the same as people who take a second or hobby job (including teenagers babysitting).

That subsidy is structural, IMO. That we see a lot of full time AirBnBs and full time Uber/Lyft drivers may mean it’s sustainable even outside of VC support. (I have no inside information, but I suspect that ride-sharing is economically profitable long-term at current end-user prices in all established markets.)

A lot of Uber drivers I know or had the chance to speak with actually leased/bought a car just for that, whereas Airbnb is a different capital investment.

Right. I typed unclearly. The fact that some Ubers are full time and carrying the full cost of a dedicated car suggests that it’s even more sustainable than just covering marginal costs with a profit margin but covering full costs with profit.

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