> would the economy tolerate a much more diverse marketplace for connecting cooks, drivers, and customers?

I envision some kind of government-run or mandated exchange where drivers can certify/onboard at any number of uber/lyft clones, and customers can sign up for any number of uber/lyft clones. Any request placed will be sent to the exchange and the cheapest price from a service that the passenger is willing to use is selected.

This would primarily squeeze the margin of uber/lyft. That margin is what competitors can offer up to drivers for higher wages and passengers for lower prices. It's pretty wild to me that Uber/Lyft still manage to capture 25-60% of the "value" of each ride, when the overwhelmingly largest value they provide is derived from network-effect lock-in (essentially rent-seeking).

Maybe drivers could set their minimum wages per mile/estimated time, and passengers could avoid companies with business practices they don't like (inadequate background checks, paying wages too low, sponsors the wrong sports team).

This exchange would have to be enforced with anti-trust or just statute/regulation.