Rideshare can be profitable for everyone just like Craigslist is. The problem is that Uber and Lyft decided they were large enterprise with a SMB profit model.

Rideshare can be profitable for everyone just like Craigslist is. The problem is that Uber and Lyft decided they were large enterprise with a SMB profit model. You could gut 80% of either and if all you had left was drivers making good wages and the service fees for using the app to support the backend you'd be sitting in a lucrative spot. Yet both companies jumped in way too far and way too early. R&D at Uber hasn't delivered and they've continued to burn cash. WeWork, Uber, Lyft - all built on a greed model. Most drivers that I've talked to in the last few months complain how their pay stays the same or goes down and the ride prices continue to increase. These companies are like cancer: just there to take as much as they can and hopefully steamroll the real drivers that bootstrapped them into autonomous ride services. If Uber/Lyft fail someone else will come back around to pick up the key pieces that can work. But for now your "cheap rides are over" - because Uber and Lyft have decided that is the answer to the problem they've created.