"it seems that every journey only covers 41% of the costs involved in making it." This statistic is dumb. There is a distinction between marginal and average

"it seems that every journey only covers 41% of the costs involved in making it." This statistic is dumb. There is a distinction between marginal and average cost. Uber's marginal costs are negligible, except for the new markets and products where they pay the driver's fare rather than collect a portion. The "costs involved in making" a trip are born only by the driver. Uber's marginal costs are only the probability they have to refund the fare for whatever reason, or get sued or something. This might seem academic, but recognizing it belies the idea Uber will one day have to raise fares by 41%. The 41% statistic is derived from Uber's total losses. But this involves the significant fixed costs of running Uber...some of which are investments in IP and infrastructure...and which scale much less-than-linearly with demand. If Uber's demand grew enough they would be profitable even with today's fares. I do not know if Uber will one day be profitable or raise fares, but tying total losses to the price of an individual trip is sloppy.