Session takes ideas for better handicapped access to ride-share services

There was an effort Tuesday to improve access to ride-sharing services for people with disabilities.
Valerie Joseph says some ride-share drivers for services like Uber and Lyft are hesitant to help handicapped passengers.
"No one else has to put up with this kind of aggravation just to travel a few miles," she says.
On Tuesday, Joseph and others testified at a state-sponsored listening session about improving ride-share access for the handicapped.
Some popular ideas included more training for drivers and possibly even low-interest loans for drivers to equip cars with wheelchair lifts.
State Accessibility Task Force co-chair Marilyn Tucci, who is blind and uses a service dog, says helping the handicapped could be profitable for ride-share companies.
"I hope they are starting to realize a lot of blind people want to use them too," she says. "And people with service dogs want to use them."
In a statement to News 12, Uber says its drivers are expected to accommodate riders with service animals, as well as folding wheelchairs, "but we know there is more that can be done."
A Lyft spokesperson says it's working with the state committee and that, "We're...committed to enhancing the mobility options available for those in Long Island with disabilities."
Tuesday's listening session in Greenlawn was one of several across New York state on improving handicap access to ride-share services.
The committee hopes to finalize its recommendations on handicapped access to the ride-share companies and the state sometime next year.