Hard to make a living while driving for uber.
First thing that comes to mind is taxi rides are discretionary spending. Public transport looks attractive. The economic situation is not looking fine for the short-medium term. Industry orders are down, eventually more than a few workers will be redundant. uber drivers may just be canaries in a big coal mine.
Ironic how Uber disrupted taxis with low prices and now the same happens to them with Bolt.
Now that is slavery!
Low prices yes - but also safety.
I stopped using “normal” taxies in favour of uber when travelling, as uber would send you a map of the route on the receipt. I still remember a driver in Amsterdam taking a literal “zig-zag” route to get to the hotel from the airport after I feel asleep after a red-eye flight.
Morning after, I raised a ticket with uber who promptly refunded me.
Same goes for Asia/Africa, where haggling over the cost of a ride has become pointless with uber… (not to mention the scams at Rome fiumicino airport!)
The disruption narrative is a bit comical because uber (and many others) talk as if history ends with them. Before us, things worked like this. We arrived and things now work like this and nothing will change anymore.
Several things may be happening. Maybe too many people wants to drive for uber now. Maybe the economy is not that good and customers see public transport sexy once again. Maybe public transport and private cars are great, thus taxi services are simply a fool’s errand. Maybe, Bolt is the new one burning cash to gain market share while offering services below cost.