The article is talking about a different thing. If the trip costs me $10, the driver keeps ~$7 and Uber gets $3. If the driver thinks he needs $9 for this to be viable, then Uber should either take $1 or charge the customer $12 and pay the driver $9 is my point. I don't want the additional $2 to be covered by tips, which is determined by an unspoken rule.
But right now Uber is actually subsidizing your ride, so you pay $10, the driver gets $20 and Uber's "cut" is -$10. On top of that Uber does have expenses of their own so Uber loses $15 total.
The only way this works over the long term is to force out competition so that they can massively jack up prices, and/or replace drivers with self-driving cars that have lower costs.
Right, so make my cost $15 and pay the driver $25 and Uber still loses $15. I'm okay with that if that means I and the driver don't have to stress out about the tip before each ride. I don't want to be responsible for the driver making living wage when I don't employ him.
If Uber does this and they realize customers are not riding as much anymore, then it is a problem with their pricing and setting of expectation.
