Those four hours would be spent driving for customers on other networks, or for cash. I can't imagine that Uber did not have a solution for this all these year

Those four hours would be spent driving for customers on other networks, or for cash. I can't imagine that Uber did not have a solution for this all these years since we seem to only be seeing reports now. But I could easily imagine stuff like that getting lost over time when there is sufficient turnaround in the department of "moving fast and breaking things". If there even are people who have the explicit responsibility of making sure that the company's basic business formula is kept intact, they will be the ridiculed naysayers in an environment of yes-men.