For the drivers, Uber (and Lyft) tie some hurdle rates (rides/week or hours driven etc) to cash bonuses reward their loyalty. It seems like they have some statu

For the drivers, Uber (and Lyft) tie some hurdle rates (rides/week or hours driven etc) to cash bonuses reward their loyalty. It seems like they have some status levels as well (e.g. Uber Diamond Pro) that I guess probably leads to better economics / bargaining power for the driver. So on margin drivers will specialize in one type of service especially in consistently high demand areas (i.e. cities). Unclear which one is better but on surface it seems Uber has more of these in place than Lyft IMO. For the riders, Uber Rewards and Uber Cash (that actually forces you to reload if you have below whatever your current ride costs) also make the product quite sticky and make the rider less inclined to take other options on margin. Small economic tools like these that exploit our psychological biases (e.g. loss aversion, gamification) may go a long way in protecting the moat in this commoditized, competitive environment, and Uber seems to be ahead so far. (Of course, whichever player comes out with SDCs wins the whole pie)