Uber drivers, like all drivers, are themselves a technology that’s about to be disrupted. As soon as a decade from now, even less, we’ll have autonomous vehicles. If there’s a “driver” at all, they’ll be more a safety monitor to assure nothing catastrophic occurs, keep an eye on passengers, and perhaps sell goods/services during the trip.

It’s not just Uber. All the major car makers, industrial truck makers, and auto part and services companies are engaged in competition and cooperation to build this system. Soon “driver” will be a highly specialized and rare job, like travel agent or stockbroker. Including you — sooner than you think, the action of getting into a car that’s been parked in your driveway all night and driving to work will be like programming a VCR.

If the issue is exploitation of the working class, Uber/Lyft/Postmates are participants in a much broader system that’s even bigger than the gig-economy tech companies you mention above. The paid petition collector on the street corner may be a contractor. The guy delivering your newspaper (if you still get one) may be one. The janitor at your office may be one. The nurse at your clinic may be one. The legacy taxi drivers that Uber is replacing in many markets are also often a very model of labor exploitation; in fact, they may be even worse off because often they have to borrow massive sums just for the right to drive, essentially indenturing them.

So this is bigger than demanding one or two companies change their labor models. And abandoning ride sharing in favor of the bus is unlikely to create the change we seek. Because of the rapid change in driving tech, there’s no reason why Uber or Lyft would give workers benefits or rights in the waning years of those workers’ utility to those companies. This problem is systemic. Focusing on Uber to solve the broader problem is like trying to lose weight by cutting out Halloween.