With New Year’s Eve just a few days away, supporters of ride-hailing services say Uber or Lyft would be the perfect resource to see people safely home this New Year. Katie Eastman has more from Albany, where supporters held a press conference Wednesday morning.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Local leaders gathered in Albany yet again to rally for ride-hailing services to come to Upstate New York. They called it "embarrassing" and frustrating that apps, like Uber and Lyft, are still not allowed around the area.

"There's one thing New Yorkers really want for Christmas this year, and it isn't a one-horse open sleigh," said audio from an Uber advertisement airing across Upstate NYew York. 

"It's really embarrassing that we can't get a simple app approved in New York State," said Assemblyman John McDonald (D-Cohoes).

New York state insurance laws don't allow ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. New York City has an exception. There's a bill that would allow it upstate, but lawmakers haven't been able to bring it to the floor. 

"We need to have other measures out there to get people home safely," said Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, adding that a local taxi sometimes takes more than two hours to pick people up.

It's especially a concern as one of the biggest party nights of the year approaches. But safety means something very different to 48-year-old Julie Farrar.

"I've been using a power wheelchair and unable to drive for the last six years," she said.

She's not against ride-hailing coming to upstate; she just wants to be able to use it.

Julie says if apps like Uber and Lyft were required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, then they would make sure a certain number of cars had access for people like her.

"I'm also a mother, and I'm also a person who shops and a person who is a consumer, and a person who participates in recreation and in the arts, and I need to be able to get to those places just like everybody else," said Farrar.

The leaders at the press conference admitted this law isn't perfect, but say they'd rather have more imperfect options than hardly any at all.

"We can come out of the dark ages and join the rest of the country and have ride sharing in upstate New York," said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.

A spokesperson for the Upstate Transportation Association called the press conference "another publicity stunt in Uber’s multi-million-dollar campaign against basic safety regulations. Common sense demands that upstate passengers have the same protections as New York City passengers – including fingerprint background checks for every ridesharing driver."

The next legislative session begins Wednesday, January 4. Supporters of the bill hope to pass it immediately.