Evidently many Uber drivers will use Uber to supplement their incomes, rather than as a main source of income, and therefore be willing to charge lower fares than taxistas who need to live off their earnings.

If I’m getting this right, an Uber driver who needs to go across town anyway will pick up a fare or two along the way to earn a few bucks, but since the driver is going across town anyway and has another source of income, he doesn’t care if he makes a profit. He’s just cutting his losses and picking up some spending money.

Again, if I’m getting this right, wouldn’t this be like a bar that needs to hire two bartenders only hiring one while letting some of the regulars help out serving the customers in exchange for free drinks and tips? If so, sure, prices might be a little lower for the customers while a few regulars might like their free drinks and tips, but it would create unemployment among bartenders while inviting the problems likely to result from unsupervised volunteer bartenders, who as Derryl notes would become part of the informal cash economy.

Anyway, I’m still trying to make up my own mind about Uber, but am leery about using up front cost savings to the customer as the sole criterion for evaluating it.