The drivers also provide the cars (a necessary and quite substantial capital asset), and it's very easy for a driver to work for multiple ride-sharing companies

The drivers also provide the cars (a necessary and quite substantial capital asset), and it's very easy for a driver to work for multiple ride-sharing companies at once. A driver could easily lose money by accepting rides that don't earn them enough to pay for gas and maintenance. (On the other hand, the laws around here don't allow a taxi driver to reject a hire based on the destination, which is why the price has a per-mile component.)