BUFFALO, N.Y. -- People normally come to the Albright Knox to see great contemporary art, but Saturday they came to voice their opinion on ride-hailing in Western New York.
"Ridesharing offers a viable, safe, necessary and rapid alternative when it comes to the transportation need of the residents of our community," said Ed Rath, (R) Erie County Legislature.
A panel of local and state leaders listened to community members share why ride-hailingservices are needed.
"We know that at night people go out and after a long night out we want people to make a safe choice, and a safe choice is getting a ride home versus getting behind the wheel, so it's really important that we have ride-hailingin Western New York,” said Mary Beth Popp, North American Breweries
Not everyone is convinced. Some say the services don't provide a living wage or benefits for drivers, while others worry the services might not accommodate people with disabilities.
"This isn't an argument of convenience for us. This is a civil right for us. So not only am I saying that it's got to be available, it's got to be available the day Uber starts. Those vehicles have to be available the first day. If they're not, this program is not ready," said Todd Vaawerk, WNY Independent Living direcot of advocacy and public policy.
"One, what happens about workers' rights? Because this thing about making them independent contractors and trying to sell it as if that everybody who's going to be in Uber is going to do great is a bunch of hype, and they know it," said community activist Jim Anderson.
"We wanted to hear from all aspects of this issue, all sides of this issue. Overwhelmingly, the public came out in support of this legislation, but the legislation isn't perfect yet and we wanted to make sure that we take those voices that we heard here today, bring that information down to Albany and create the most perfect legislation that we can possibly create," said New York State Sen. Tim Kennedy.
The Republican-led Senate recently approved a bill to allow ride-hailing upstate. The Democratic-controlled Assembly has yet to vote on the measure.