If what he says is true, that it's going up because of driver pay, that's good at least. Uber at least has competition in Lyft, and both have a lot more markets to enter around the world by chipping away the established local taxi businesses, which can also compete by dropping their prices...
Overall I think Uber is a net positive. But $50 is a pretty ridiculous fee.
Uber has engaged in rampant employee misclassification, even going as far as changing California’s constitution to get away with it. Shit like that should not be allowed