I live in SF, not NYC, and am not sure what's up with the Uber rates in NYC. But I'd expect to see a similarly decreasing satisfaction in SF, and, really, this

I live in SF, not NYC, and am not sure what's up with the Uber rates in NYC. But I'd expect to see a similarly decreasing satisfaction in SF, and, really, this is pretty simple: it's all about the money. Going from my house to 16th and Mission is about a 15 minute drive, assuming no traffic. The UberX fare calculator quotes me $11 to $14 (assuming no surge). It's probably going to be about 5 minutes to come and pick me up. The fare component is $10 to $13. Driver gets 80% of that. So now we're talking $8 to $10.40 for 20 minutes' work. If you're literally going back-to-back, that's $24 to $31 per hour. But you aren't picking people up back-to-back. And of course gas, vehicle maintenance, blah-blah-blah. It's not great money. Things get better if you surge, but Uber is trying to increase supply enough that surges are rare and relatively low-multiplier. Also, surges typically happen during high-traffic times when each ride takes longer, and getting to the fare takes longer. Right now, some of this is masked for a lot of drivers by big bonuses paid at sign-up, and/or limited-time-period wage guarantees. But the longer-term drivers are basically seeing that their basic income per trip has gone down 30-50% from about a year ago. Of course they're less happy!