Uber CEO says its service will probably shut down temporarily in California

[Santander]

Uber was never intended to be a full time job or even a part time one, it was an opportunity for people to supplement their income or earn some extra money.

I meant people who depend on Uber for transportation.

Contrary to popular belief, Uber is rarely the cheapest option to get between two places. I find it hard to believe there are a significant number of people who only have the option of taking Uber, especially given its relatively recent appearence on the scene. You'd need to be someone who lives in an area with no public transportation, but who still needs to commute long distances, who is wealthy enough to afford Uber, but not wealthy enough to afford a baseline used car. Am I missing some big demographic here?

People who don't need to commute on a daily basis, for one. Or people who need temporary transportation due to whatever circumstances. Or travelers away from home. Or people in the burbs who need a ride home from the bar. Or people unable to drive due to injury, old age, or mild disability. "Depending" on a mode of transportation does not mean there are no other modes of transportation available or that it is the cheapest mode of transportation. Someone living in Long Island could take buses to commute to Manhattan, but that doesn't mean they don't depend on LIRR.

[Santander]

Cabs are way more expensive than Uber or Lyft and far less convenient.

There are times cabs are more convenient (not-so-busy taxi stand, hailing a cab on the street) and/or less expensive (surge pricing, flat fare routes). The majority of the time though, yeah, Uber is far better on both. Plus you don't have to fiddle around with payment, you get receipts emailed to you, you can more easily get customer support, etc. There are also many big cities (Las Vegas, Kuala Lumpur come to mind) where Uber/Grab have dramatically improved the transportation situation.

I used to never take Uber because of their role in the 1099-ization of workers, but I've accepted the fact that these services are necessary. (not necessarily Uber the company itself) It works better in some markets than others.