Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think Uber drivers can't just switch to the competition at the drop of a hat? Lots of them already work for both Uber and Lyft at the same time! They're the absolute last people I'm worried about hurting here. There are other "ride-sharing" companies out there, you know. And when Uber is clearly going down the drain, more competitors will pop up in anticipation of taking advantage of the situation.
What percentage of customers/drivers do YOU think would switch over to Lyft et al? From my experience in growth/marketing, I would bet there would be around 50% drop off, but I could definitely be wrong! These things are hard to guess. (Customers need to switch as well as drivers) Even a 1% drop off leads to 5000 people let go. Anything substantial would lead me to strongly considering other avenues of redemption. To…
Um, all of them? If Uber went under, what choice would they have? Why would customers give up on Uber/Lyft and go back to cabs, when there's at least one company that does almost the exact same thing and is a direct competitor? Why would they refuse to install the Lyft app, when they've already shown they're willing to install the Uber app? And why would drivers not go to work for the competition, esp. with a giant void left by Uber in the market?
I'm sorry, I think your argument is ridiculous. Right now, I'm eating some spaghetti for dinner that I just made. It's made with Brand X spaghettin and Brand A of sauce. Now if either of these brands suddenly went under and disappeared from the supermarket aisles, do you think I'm going to just stop eating spaghetti altogether? That's insane. And even that would make more sense than this Uber scenario. Uber is just a way to get you from point A to point B, and has succeeded so far because it's both cheaper and more convenient, in most cases, than the incumbent services. People aren't going to suddenly stop needing to get transported places without Uber around, nor are those incumbents improving enough to get them back, at least in many places (if they were, Uber would have a large loss of ridership there already). And Lyft is already there (in many markets at least), offering the exact same service as Uber, frequently with many of the same drivers. Why wouldn't people switch? There's only two reasons: 1) ignorace (easily countered with some advertising, plus word-of-mouth from drivers during Uber's last days), and 2) lack of availability of Lyft or other competitors in certain locations (I believe Toronto does not have Lyft for some odd reason). At least with my spaghetti example someone might say they love sauce brand C so much that they just wouldn't bother making much spaghetti without it and would eat other stuff.