In the USA I can ignore rides at will without penalty, which is a recent development (last year or two IIRC). I only drive when it's busy and the rates are up.

In the USA I can ignore rides at will without penalty, which is a recent development (last year or two IIRC). I only drive when it's busy and the rates are up. Uber offer's me a rate, and I choose whether to accept it or not. Even before this, though, I could just go offline when it wasn't busy enough or the rates were too low. I still have no power to negotiate contract terms though, as the only other company I could contract with is Lyft, and their terms are basically the same. Nevertheless, driving for Uber is much much more profitable than it was in the early days. Increase in ride demand is the main reason. Tips can also put you to $30/hour pure profit if you know how to be entertaining. Except now the pandemic has destroyed the market.