Zip codes 78701-78704 are the most relevant. $350k will buy you a house that is falling apart from the 1920s in most cases. It is not “cheap” here by the national standard. Just comparatively to the coasts.
Do you usually just use Uber? I’m surprised you haven’t signed up for Lyft for this long. Pretty commonplace to bump price estimates against each other. I also prefer Lyft over Uber too though.
I imagine it looks like what the traditional cab companies have been doing forever in every city for the last whatever many years.
I am spitballing here, but here is my vision. Please feel free to correct anything deemed infeasible. Decentralize the platform and open Lyft hubs in every major city as their own business unit. Use the same model of contract drivers/use of their vehicle. Pay them better wages which is now possible through greatly reduced operational costs to increase driver loyalty and keep them on the road. I just don’t think this business model works at this scale. There are two major players with an insane amount of capital who both are failing every single metric of a going concern.