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Old Jul 24, 2019, 5:42 am
  #12  
wahooflyer
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA Gold, Amex Plat
Posts: 4,007
I have some sympathy for the drivers here: if Uber/Lyft prices were not so cheap, they wouldn't have to resort to surge manipulation. A company can only price its service below cost for so long before the losses (in this case, to both drivers and the billions of $ in VC funding) get too great. When UberX first launched in DC in 2013, I believe the fares were around $2.10 per mile, with the driver keeping 80% of the fare - similar to, or perhaps a bit higher than, taxi fares. Now, drivers get only 60-80 cents per mile, plus 10 cents per minute, depending on the city. Hard for anyone to make a living on that after accounting for vehicle expenses.
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