For (1), how do you think it applies? The situation analyzed is taken from Uber's numbers, and is for an "average" driver that works 70 hours per week. If you're working 70 hours, you're not gaining a huge advantage from surge pricing.
For (2), again, this is a vehicle being used 70 hours per week, 40,000 miles per year. If you were looking at the case of a part-time driver it might not be appropriate to allocate all the expenses as business expenses, but in this case I think it is.
We don't know that they drive 70 hours per week. That was made up by the author. The author is fixated on the 10 mph in Manhattan when we know that Uber drivers have more flexibility on time and geography (they do drive outside of Manhattan, of course).
The car still provides for 100% of the owners personal driving needs so completely inappropriate to allocate all costs to "business".
To me all his assumptions seem pretty reasonable. Since Uber isn't providing a detailed breakdown, all we can do is estimate. And if we're willing to accept the basic assumption that people respond to economic incentives, remember that Uber's incentivized to be as misleading as possible in their favour. Even if it turns out they're completely lying, there's a reasonable chance that the economic benefits from building network by doing so are significantly greater than potential future costs if someone found out they'd lied. Given that context, I think the author was actually being overly generous and deferent to Uber's stated numbers.
My father-in-law's an NYC taxi driver, and before that (in the 90s) worked for a black car service. So I can tell you from inside experience that you make more money in Manhattan than anywhere else, period. The fact that Uber drivers have the freedom to go to New Jersey or Far Rockaway or wherever doesn't mean that they actually get any benefit from doing so.
the average speeds they are posting are only calculated during the day. uber does WAY more trips at night, when there is less traffic, so the cars can go much faster.
Are you joking? I've been refused service several times in NYC because I wasn't going to the airport (ie outside manhattan). Town car business is even heavier to airports.
How can surge pricing not give a huge advantage? When you have prices that can get as high as 6.25x normal pricing a driver can make an entire days salary in an 1.28 hours. Even on cases where it's not that high, getting double or triple the amount of money for your ride isn't that bad. If you're a smart driver and choice to work during big events you can easily drop the number of hours you're working otherwise.
I think it's safe to assume that drivers working 70 hours a week are already working during the surge times, and so the benefits are already accounted for in the average.
For (2), again, this is a vehicle being used 70 hours per week, 40,000 miles per year. If you were looking at the case of a part-time driver it might not be appropriate to allocate all the expenses as business expenses, but in this case I think it is.