[dashwav]

As a counterpoint, buses/railways are imo 100% an essential service for cities and yet they were running empty during the COVID-19 lockdown where I live. I would hate to see them recategorized as non-essential because of a situation that is clearly completely abnormal.

[dustinmoris]

Counterpoint to your counterpoint. I agree that public transport is essential, but the level at which it was running previously was 100% non essential, because the majority of the workforce in places like London (where we have excellent public transport) can & should work from home. There's no need for accountants to sit in an open plan office all clustered on the same spot in the City of London and therefore putting a huge strain on public transport which forces London to run a train every 60 seconds.

And precisely because public transport IS essential we still had all of it running, just at a reduced capacity to facilitate the essential public demand. So comparing public transport with Uber only highlights even more how Uber is non essential, because we can live pretty much without it, but we evidently can't without public transport (as seen in London).