NEW YORK – The only place
in New York where ridesharing services like Uber are allowed by law is
the City of New York.
Over the last few years, there have been efforts to have that approval
extended to the rest of the state and on Thursday, a group of over 70
business and advocacy groups announced a push to gain the support of Governor
Andrew Cuomo.
On Thursday afternoon, the governor stated he does support Uber upstate.
Among those supporting the expanded service is Hudson Valley Tech Meetup,
a technology and innovation group in the region. Its co-founder, Kale
Kaposhilin, said ridesharing provides “greater access to your community”
no matter where you live.
He said those programs increase social and professional opportunities
for people without vehicles and make it easier for the numbers of physically
disabled people in the region, particularly in Ulster County.
“There are some solutions in place for them, but particularly for
care providers, ridesharing is a great additional resource for those folks
to help them get to where they need to get,” he said. “Regardless
of your socio-economic background, we really see ridesharing as something
that connects and builds stronger communities for that reason, it is a
technology we celebrate and we are certainly advocating to have ridesharing
in the Hudson Valley.”
Nick Sinatra, a real estate agency owner in Buffalo, said that city is
the largest in the nation without ridesharing, and “while folks
in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and even New York City, successfully
use these platforms every day.”
He said it is “time for downstate lawmakers to stop depriving upstate
cities of an economic resource they already have.”
