Uber is now on the path to being regulated in Victoria. Last week, the Andrews government announced a policy pitched at levelling the playing field and quelling the taxi industry's anger that their comfortable near-monopoly on transporting people from A to B had been undercut by a cheaper, app-based upstart.

Once legislated, a $2 surcharge will be tacked on to each Uber and taxi trip taken in Victoria, adding an estimated $44 million to government coffers every year. It's still unclear who will bear the ultimate burden of the surcharge; one would expect it will be consumers – we've also been the beneficiaries of Uber's price-slashing (by 15 per cent in March 2016 and by around 8 per cent in May 2015).

But the focus on the anger of the taxi industry in this remedy has distracted us from the real losers in the surge of the app-based economy: Uber drivers – along with Foodora and Deliveroo riders.

Uber drivers (and their kin) are not technically employed by Uber. They are contracted. They bear the onus of taking superannuation and tax out of their earnings, and ensuring their cars are insured. If a driver causes a crash that results in injury or damage, the injured party can only seek compensation from the driver – whose pockets may not be deep enough to cover the damages sought.