[aetherson]

They raised the commission back up to 20% at the same time they added the $1 "safety" fee. Here's a reference:

http://www.geekwire.com/2014/uber-adds-1-safe-rides-fee-pass...

My read is that they thought they could keep Lyft from taking their market-share by losing money on every ride and relying on their deep pockets, but then Lyft got a comparable amount of money to Uber, and Uber was like, "well, guess we won't be waiting them out."

[cbsmith]

Ouch, that shift back to 20% is gonna hurt them bad with drivers, and the $1 adds insult to injury.