Some local state lawmakers want the public to help bring Uber and Lyft to Buffalo and all of upstate.
Senators Chris Jacobs and Tim Kennedy and Assemblymembers Mickey Kearns and Crystal Peoples-Stokes are planning public forums in four cities across the region. Jacobs says it's a terrible dynamic that the service is available in New York City.
"One reason is because everybody in downstate already has it. So there's no consequence for not doing it. So when these lobbyists, these special interests who are pushing against getting ridesharing, go to these downstate legislators, [the legislators] have no problem [telling the lobbyists] they won't pass it because there's no consequence [for the legislators] or their constituencies," Jacobs said.
That's why, Jacobs said, it's important for upstate residents to send a message to downstate lawmakers.
The first public forum is February 11th from 10 a.m. - noon at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Other forums are planned in Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.