At first glance you seem to have a reasonable point, but it actually doesn't work out. Surge pricing doesn't merely raise supply to meet demand, it also suppresses demand to meet supply. In the latter case, there are fewer rides going around than there would with an infinite supply, so if Uber doesn't take a cut of the surge pricing themselves, then they're missing out on money they would have had without the suppressed demand.
Perhaps you think they deserve to make less money, but as wutbrodo pointed out, the lack of supply at these times does not mean Uber has failed at recruiting drivers. After all, having extra drivers sitting around idle is not helpful to anyone (not to Uber, not to the drivers themselves, and not to the passengers). The only mechanism Uber has for putting more drivers on the road when demand increases is to adjust prices. Theoretically they could merely reduce their cut to put more drivers on the road without increasing the cost to passengers, but there's no incentive for them to do that.
Ultimately, what you said would make sense if drivers were actually Uber employees that operated at the direction of Uber. In that scenario, Uber could order more drivers onto the road without surge pricing. But that's not the case, drivers are voluntary contractors that make the decision themselves about whether to start working. The only tool Uber has to influence how many drivers start working is to increase their pay, and the only way to do that* is to turn on surge pricing. And since surge pricing acts to reduce demand in addition to increasing supply, the only way Uber itself has an incentive to use surge pricing is if Uber itself gets more money that way (which means taking a cut of the surge-boosted price instead of the original price).
I'll grant you that if Uber was a regulated service operating on behalf of the public, then perhaps it makes sense to penalize them for not adequately meeting demand. And in such a scenario, surge pricing can't be justified anyway, so the natural penalty of not filling as many rides as there is demand for would suffice. But Uber is a for-profit company, offering what is essentially a luxury good, and the only arguments that really have any bearing on Uber's behavior are economic ones.
it's possible that there are times when it makes sense to do that, e.g. when surge pricing is already on and raising it further will suppress demand enough that they won't make as much money. It's possible that reducing their cut could increase driver supply enough to make up for the difference (due to more rides happening). But I don't know if this is ever true in practice.
*short of reducing their cut, as mentioned previously, but there's no incentive to do this instead of surge pricing
Perhaps you think they deserve to make less money, but as wutbrodo pointed out, the lack of supply at these times does not mean Uber has failed at recruiting drivers. After all, having extra drivers sitting around idle is not helpful to anyone (not to Uber, not to the drivers themselves, and not to the passengers). The only mechanism Uber has for putting more drivers on the road when demand increases is to adjust prices. Theoretically they could merely reduce their cut to put more drivers on the road without increasing the cost to passengers, but there's no incentive for them to do that.
Ultimately, what you said would make sense if drivers were actually Uber employees that operated at the direction of Uber. In that scenario, Uber could order more drivers onto the road without surge pricing. But that's not the case, drivers are voluntary contractors that make the decision themselves about whether to start working. The only tool Uber has to influence how many drivers start working is to increase their pay, and the only way to do that* is to turn on surge pricing. And since surge pricing acts to reduce demand in addition to increasing supply, the only way Uber itself has an incentive to use surge pricing is if Uber itself gets more money that way (which means taking a cut of the surge-boosted price instead of the original price).
I'll grant you that if Uber was a regulated service operating on behalf of the public, then perhaps it makes sense to penalize them for not adequately meeting demand. And in such a scenario, surge pricing can't be justified anyway, so the natural penalty of not filling as many rides as there is demand for would suffice. But Uber is a for-profit company, offering what is essentially a luxury good, and the only arguments that really have any bearing on Uber's behavior are economic ones.
it's possible that there are times when it makes sense to do that, e.g. when surge pricing is already on and raising it further will suppress demand enough that they won't make as much money. It's possible that reducing their cut could increase driver supply enough to make up for the difference (due to more rides happening). But I don't know if this is ever true in practice.
*short of reducing their cut, as mentioned previously, but there's no incentive to do this instead of surge pricing