They don’t seem that bad here in Eastern Europe. Many times Uber is a bit more expensive than classic taxis. But most important they provide a very good service compared to regulated taxis. To understand what we had here before think of the normal taxi companies as the mafia. All of this while the government and the police did nothing.

It's complicated. They provide better service than incumbent taxi services, but they were only able to do that because Travis Kalanick build a culture that's not too concerned with legalities. And Lyft was only able to do it because Uber led the way.

I'm not as concerned with how it's been devastating to medallion holders and the state of the gig economy. Bad government policy was responsible for those problems, Uber just took advantage of it.

One of Uber's most impressive accomplishments was that they were able to generate sympathy in many circles for the incumbent cab companies. It took real ingenuity for them to get themselves painted as the bad guys given how, in most markets, essentially no one likes cabs. OK, people are fine with private cars and cabs in a few cities like London (mostly) but they're expensive.

Uber and Lyft really are better experiences than random cabs most of the time but their culture still managed to turn off a lot of people who worry about such things.

> Uber and Lyft really are better experiences than random cabs most of the time

For the passenger yes, but not for the drivers, and they are people too.

I know this is anecdotal, but I often ask this to drivers who used to drive for cabs. 9/10 they say they prefer Uber/Lyft because of their ability to set hours.

Though, that was mostly a few years ago when a lot of the drivers came over.

Lately I’ve heard a lot of complaints about their commission percentage, but fewer drivers who used to drive cabs, so I’m not sure how they feel in comparison.

Yes they are although I'm pretty sure cab driver wasn't a great work experience for most either.

> the start of the end?

Hiring freezes don't help morale, it makes for a stagnant mood, you miss out on new talent, and attrition leaves you with (typically) worse talent. It only really makes sense to juice the next quarter's numbers.

You’d usually do these moves to increase employee churn a bit as well. 6 months from now it will probably pick up again