Organization postpones vote on sending Uber letter to state assembly
The Syracuse University Student Association assembly did not vote Monday on whether it would approve sending a letter to the New York State Assembly arguing for the legalization of ride-hailing services in New York state.
Additionally, at the organization’s Monday night meeting in Maxwell Auditorium, SA Vice President Jane Hong discussed the installation of heat lamps at the College Place bus stop and the future of SA’s bike-sharing program.
At its meeting last week, the SA assembly voted to take an official stance supporting the legalization of ride-hailing services, such as Uber, in New York state. It had planned to vote Monday to approve the letter, which is a joint effort between SA and student governments at other schools in New York state. But SA President Aysha Seedat did not have the final version of the letter to present to the assembly.
That’s because, on Friday, the student government of the University at Albany notified SA that it wanted to sign on to the letter. Its members are currently making their own revisions, and the SA assembly will vote to approve sending the letter at a later meeting.
Seedat said her deadline for sending the letter is the end of the semester, since the state assembly will be convening for its next legislative session in January. That’s when it will consider bill A.6090, which would change state law to include ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft in its insurance regulations.
Seedat will be attending an Uber press conference at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que on Tuesday, when Uber plans to discuss its potential economic impact on Syracuse. Seedat will be speaking at the press conference and giving SA’s support for bringing Uber to Syracuse.
Later during Monday’s meeting, Hong gave an update on SA’s bike-share program, which was supposed to launch last month. She said the program hasn’t launched yet because SA “hit a couple roadblocks.”
Primarily, Hong wants to ensure that if the program is launched, it will become a permanent fixture on campus, rather than something the SA cabinet has to approve funding for on a semester-by-semester basis. Additionally, she wants bikes to be available for students to rent on a daily basis.
When the program does launch, students will be able to rent bikes from Archbold Gymnasium for free. By next semester, it is likely that the program will also operate out of residence halls on campus, Hong said.
Hong also notified the assembly about heat lamps at the College Place bus stop. The lamps are currently being installed and Hong said they will be fully operational within the next week. Installing heat lamps at bus stops was an initiative started last fall by SA’s Student Life Committee, which Seedat was then the director of.