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

[Crumpets]

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?

[Crumpets]

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?

I’m talking about people who can’t drive.

How many people who can't drive have Uber as their go-to, though? Uber is a service dominated by affluent urban millennials, which tend not to be the demographic that doesn't have other options. The people in my life who can't drive are disproportionately old and have probably never taken an Uber in their life. If they need to get somewhere, they take public transit or get a friend to drive them. Worst case scenario, they call a cab. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the number of people who rely on Uber as their only option has got to be absolutely tiny, especially since, as I said, it's such a recent addition to most areas that all of the services it was meant to replace are generally still operating at full or near-full capacity.

[Crumpets]

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.

Maybe it's just where I've lived, but cabs tend to be the cheaper option compared to Uber for me. They do tend to be slightly less convenient and take longer to get to where you are unless you're in a high-traffic area, and you tend to gamble more with how clean it'll be, but that also varies city-to-city.