Albany

The state Legislature has approved a measure that paves the road for the Capital Region's mass transit authority to bring regulatory uniformity to the area's patchwork of taxi services.

The state Senate shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday gave final sign-off to legislation that will allow municipalities to opt in to allowing the Capital District Transportation Authority to become the entity that administers registration and licensing of cabs. The idea, according to the bill, is not to take those decisions out of the hands of the region's municipalities, but to let CDTA handle the administrative labor, which would include a unified complaint process.

Capital Region cabs are often maligned by both out-of-towners and residents. The sponsor's memo on the legislation specifically notes issues with both quality and consistency of cabs transporting travelers between Albany International Airport and the Rensselaer Train Station and their destinations.

By providing a blanket draft ordinance for municipalities to opt in, CTDA would field the complaints of frustrated riders.

Municipalities, however, could require cabs to have the same fare structures and modern conveniences like credit card readers.

The push within the Legislature to more seamlessly regulate the region's taxi services took on new vigor with the demise earlier this week of legislation that would have allowed for the expansion of ride-hailing — led by titans Uber and Lyft — outside of New York City.

While the state Senate declined to vote on its version of the bill on Thursday night, the Assembly's version did not make it out of committee on Tuesday. At issue were differences between the minimum mandatory insurance limits. The Assembly's version of the bill actually was opposed by both Uber and Lyft, which contended it would make it unprofitable to operate across much of upstate.

Even without ride-hailing expanding, the CDTA bill could at least lead to what Assembly sponsor John McDonald, D-Cohoes, referred to as the "Uberizing" of the region's cabs if municipalities were to move toward requiring the companies to use some sort of phone application platform for hailing rides.

The sponsors would like to see Albany, Schenectady, Troy and Saratoga Springs adopt ordinances first, McDonald said. Then they would move toward Rensselaer and Colonie, where Albany International Airport is located.

This all assumes Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the legislation.

"We are a much more mobile community now," McDonald said. "To have an entity like CDTA which has a very strong working relationship within all the communities ... is going to be a recipe for success."

Bret Peek, owner of Capitaland Taxi, said he favors letting CDTA oversee cabs.

"I think that it's probably overdue," said Peek, though he hadn't seen the legislation.

mhamilton@timesunion.com • 518-454-5449 • @matt_hamilton10