[ericb]

This is the conclusion people come to naturally when one assumes all the other variables don't change in response to the wage. but they all change

The number of rides change as the price of the ride goes up, which happens when you raise the underlying cost to the rider. (aka supply and demand)

The number of drivers change with the overhead cost-per-driver. If each driver has a fixed healthcare overhead, it makes sense to hire only full time drivers as you can pay the overhead once and get the most hours driven from that sunk cost.

The number of drivers that get hired if you bump the salary also declines for all the reasons above.

[JMTQp8lwXL]

It doesn't have to imply a decline in service availability. For example, the spread between Uber Pool and X could grow (since wanting your own vehicle, without sharing it, places more stress on the overall system). So, the popularity of pool could grow.