For my area in Los Angeles, it wasn't viable because everyone (or someone you know) has a car. a friend ride is much cheaper than an Uber.
I only download the Uber app when I need to get to the airport and am leaving for weeks at a time. Any other time, I take myself, ask a friend, or even consider what remnants we have of public transportation (e.g. instead of taking a horribly expensive uber in/out of LAX, take a shuttle to some smaller area and then hitch a ride. can easily save 4x the cost for a $5 bus ride and maybe 30-45 extra minutes)
A lot of us won’t ask friends for rides because it’s kind of selfish, I’ll do an uber/lyft every time unless my buddy is right there saying he’s heading that way.
Well I have my car and we tend to alternate carpools, so there's not usually any pressure. I tend to give them $10-20 to cover gas and I still come out way ahead.
I just never get a good time to go to/leave an airport, so that's the only time I resort to Uber.
Try $150. Trying to Uber out of LAX is highway robbery and they know that. Going from my house to LAX is anywhere from $60-100. Going the other way is anywhere from $100-300, and only gets worse on holidays.
Shuttle to anywhere else is $10 and prices become normal again. Best advice I ever got. That and trying to use other airports where possible.