> (drivers were already losing money at this point, but Uber relied on their unfamiliarity with capital depreciation calculations to hide this).

If you do the math on the fully loaded cost to purchase, insure, maintain, fuel and park a late model sedan in a major city, relative to how quickly taxi-like usage wears out a car, the Uber drivers are often working for barely above minimum wage.

Their business model (and that of Lyft) relies upon there being a large pool of people who for whatever reason own a rapidly depreciating $25-30,000 asset such as a Toyota Camry, and will consume its lifespan/wear it out to make what looks like a decent hourly wage. But it's not.