San Francisco to Uber, Lyft: If your drivers aren’t employees, prove it

Why do you expect that’s going to be hard to implement? Actual private contractors (myself included) do that all the time.

One straightforward method, a rider posts location + destination + price of the ride, accepts/declines offers from drivers based on price, vehicle model, reputation, personal preferences, etc.

Another straightforward method, a passenger posts his location + destination, drivers offer price, a passenger accepts an offer.

> The value added by these platforms is exactly that

Not “exactly that”, that’s just one part of it. Examples of e-bay or stock markets shows that an intermediary connecting buyers with sellers, processing payments, maintaining reputation of both parties, and solving disputes, can still add huge value.

> you don't need to negotiate with individual drivers to get a fare to your destination

With sufficient support from the service, the negotiation part can probably be streamlined to only take a couple of clicks/swipes. Like preference to filter drivers/riders by price or distance, ability to save routes or destinations with price information allowing for 1-click repeated orders, other convenience features.

Market is not a third party like Uber. Market is a collective name for the body of the dealing parties. Specifically, prices on eBay are set by sellers for fixed price offers, and by buyers for auctions.

> I used to do a bit of contracting and I always set a price with my clients as part of the contract. That didn’t make me their employee.

Exactly. But if someone else would set your price with your clients, and your only options would be to agree to the price or quit the job, I would probably say you’re an employee, and that third party who set your prices is your employer or manager.