Yeah I don't know maybe this is your experience. Maybe you're in a crowded city or something where everyone is tripping over themselves to drive for Uber/Lyft, but where I live there are often not enough drivers to meet demand.

Having been stranded far from home, both late night and in the early evening, I see Uber & Lyft as providing a valuable service.

Having been taken advantage of by taxi drivers on multiple occasions (I don't think I've ever actually had a good taxi experience) I don't want to go back to the way things were. Maybe other people like being defrauded by taxi drivers? Maybe people just forget how bad the taxi system is, and that at one point people were cheering the demise of the old taxi system for a reason.

My worst experience in any transportation was out of Newark, NJ by a taxi. Arrived late at night in the Penn station train terminal, went in the first taxi available to go to my hotel.

I was privileged to a high speed race through Newark running red lights, not responding to my pleas to stop, charge meter was off the whole ride, then a huge argument over the cab fare that almost got the cops called on us once I thankfully arrived at the hotel.

I’ve never been in a cab since.

Uber and Lyft has always been pleasant for me.

So why don't you start a competitor?

The idea that there is a gap in the market is something that people are looking for, on Hacker News most especially, and if this is a legitimate gap that Uber and Lyft are ignoring for silly reasons, then there should be a bunch of startups to take their place pretty quickly.

And yet, Uber and Lyft have reduced drunk driving rates, provided mobility to thousands of people who otherwise may not have it, and generally made life easier for millions, if not billions, of people around the world. It's almost like one can enrich themselves while helping others.

Exploiting one part of the population is often beneficial for the other part of the population. Doesn't make it OK though.

Nothing is stopping a regulated Uber/Lyft from doing this without underpaying workers. Minimum wage laws exist for a reason, after standard IRS tax deductions Uber and Lyft pay WAY under minimum wage.

“Underpaying” workers. There are many long term Lyft / Uber / Instacart contractors out there. They have communities, share tips, etc. They seem fairly well educated on how much they are getting, and decide its worth it to tghem. How can you say they are underpaid?

This is not about minimum wage. It’s about gig work. There is quite a few people who like to do this part time. I think the real crux of the issue is health benefits. If you are not working full time you don’t get health insurance and that drives most laws like these which seem misdirected.

I think that's where a lot of people really overlook this. I'd be curious to see the percentages of 'full time' drivers vs gig drivers. Plenty of drivers I know just work this a couple hours a day to help cover cost of a new car or for beer money. It's not intended to support full time work. Like a small protein bar isn't meant to be a meal replacement. I wonder if Uber/Lyft should have fought the amount of time or rides that somebody can complete per day as a means to keep it really classified as a gig whereas they've set themselves up by allowing people to attempt to be full time drivers.

You forgot: increased traffic[1] in already congested cities and tried to cover up rape and sexual assaults[2][3].

[1] https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721139488/uber-and-lyft-cause...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/business/lyft-sexual-assa...

[3] https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/uber-silences-women-sexu...