Uber’s final frontier: Upstate New York

BUFFALO, N.Y. >> Brian Cook’s trip to Buffalo to cheer on Princeton’s basketball team in the NCAA Tournament was, for him, a journey back to a simpler time, when hailing a ride meant standing on a corner and waving your hands to flag down a taxi.

“For a 19-year-old, that’s unknown,” said Cook, who flew in from Chicago to see his brother play in Princeton’s first-round game against Notre Dame. “I take Uber everywhere, always.”

Upstate New York, essentially everything outside of the metropolitan New York City area, is Uber’s final frontier: the largest area in the continental U.S. where app- based ride- hailing companies remain banned.

Many in such upstate cities as Buffalo, Roches- ter, Albany and Syracuse are hoping this is the year that distinction ends, but they will have to persuade the state’s legislature first.

Previous efforts have repeatedly foundered, under pressure from the taxi industry and lawmakers who say they want more stringent regulations.

“I can go to New York City, Philadelphia, D.C. and I can utilize the app, but I can’t utilize it in my own city,” said Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, one of nine upstate mayors to recently write to state leaders urging them to approve the expansion.

Currently, Uber and Lyft are banned outside of the New York City area.

Every state except Alaska and New York now has statewide ride-hailing regulations — though the service remains unavailable in many rural areas. Austin, Texas, is the nation’s largest city without Uber. The company pulled out after local leaders required drivers to be fingerprinted.

New York’s decision on whether to allow ride-hailing statewide could come within weeks. Supporters and upstate mayors back proposals fromDemocratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Republican-led Senate but have concerns about legislation in the Democrat- controlled Assembly. That bill would authorize local communities to pass their own regulations on ride-hailing, and impose higher taxes and insurance costs.

But Uber has faced a spate of recent controversies, including allegations that it routinely ignores sexual harassment, video footage of its CEO profanely berating a driver and most recently, accusations that it used data on its users to evade and deceive authorities.