Your point about the calculations being based on only a couple of Uber-supplied data points is spot on. There is an awful lot of assuming going on in that analy

Your point about the calculations being based on only a couple of Uber-supplied data points is spot on. There is an awful lot of assuming going on in that analysis. FWIW, I've also talked with a handful of uber drivers in SF and LA, and they have all said they are making more money now than they did driving cabs. The biggest difference was indeed utilization - the example given a couple of times was that as taxi drivers, they would drive someone to the airport and have to drive home empty, since they didn't have the necessary licenses to work inside the airport and it wasn't cost effective to hang around hoping for fares on city steets outside their own territory. On the other hand, with Uber they often would drop someone off at the airport and immediately pick up another fare back to their own area.