Griffo questions Gov's proposed fee on Upstate ride-sharing users

State Senator Joseph Griffo issued the following statement Tuesday in response to proposed legislation that would levy a 50-cent fee on all ride-sharing trips outside of New York City in order to fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority downstate and public transit systems throughout Upstate New York:

I have serious concerns that the Governor is reportedly proposing to impose a fee on all users of ride-sharing services throughout Upstate New York in order to fund public transit systems.  I understand that this approach is used in other states, but I believe it is wrong and unfair to impose essentially a new tax on upstate New Yorkers without doing the same for anyone in New York City. Instead of trying to squeeze every penny out of hard-working upstate residents, the Governor should be reprioritizing budget issues so that we can fund public transit systems through more appropriate budgetary means, starting with the legislation he vetoed that would have helped identify more long-term funding sources for upstate transit systems. There are many public transit agencies like Centro that serve upstate and are in need of financial support, but they shouldn’t be funded by yet another tax on our citizens. 

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