Then the driver shouldn't have accepted the ride to begin with. This driver should be kicked off Uber for this - I hope he gets enough 1* ratings that it happens.

I've taken tons of short rides on Uber/Lyft in a bunch of different cities. In fact, they comprise 80% of my rides - a trip full of short rides bookended by airport runs. I've never had difficulty getting these rides accepted, nor had a driver hint that it was costing him/her money to accept short rides. I walk outside my hotel, summon Lyft, it's there 1 minute later, we go to a restaurant a mile away, and I assume he has another fare 1 minute after I leave the car. If this assumption is *way* off - he has to sit there for a half hour to get another fare - then it would be different: I know I wouldn't get my short ride accepted in that case.

I also figure the driver does better tip-wise (on Lyft anyway) with short rides. If I'm in the car 5 minutes and rack up a $5 base fare, I still leave $2 if it was a good ride. On an hourly basis, it seems like running a few of these would beat an airport run with the traffic and then a likely wait for a return fare.