There has been a big push by the popular ride-sharing service Uber to crack its way into the upstate market. The San Francisco-based company has developed roots in New York City, but is now pushing lawmakers in Albany to expand statewide.
While support of Uber appears to be growing, there are skeptics who believe the company doesn’t "play by the same rules" that govern the taxi industry. The owner of Liberty Yellow Cab also argued that Uber isn't a good fit for many customers in the region .
“You've got to have a credit card to use their service. There’s a lot of people in our city that don’t have credit cards or debit cards, so they’ll be exempt from that service, and I think they’re very discriminate to the disabled community,” argued Bill Yuhnke.
He told WBFO he welcomes any new competition, but he feels Uber is operating on an unfair playing field. Yuhnke said taxi companies in the city pay money for special licensing, and must also and follow specific guidelines set forth by the law.
Yunke maintained that Uber fails to do proper background checks on drivers.
“Would you put your daughter in the backseat of somebody you did not know? That wasn’t licensed or wasn’t background checked?" Asked Yuhnke. “I mean, I challenge people to just go and Google the word Uber."
He said Uber has been subject to 276 lawsuits across the country and wants to warn the public.
“It’s gonna be a real serious problem, unfortunately I hate to say this but it’s going to be when somebody gets hurt or killed is when the general public is going to really wake up.”