By Aiden Trusz
If you ask any Oswego student how they feel about Joshua Barbour, they may look at you with confusion. There are plenty of Josh’s on campus, is Barbour supposed to be special?
When you rephrase the question, they suddenly understand who you are talking about. A slight cringe and head nod, a knowing smile, occasionally even a response question: “That creep?”
It seems as if everyone on campus has a response to “Do you know Uber Josh?”
Uber Josh moved to Oswego four years ago, and began driving for Uber to occupy his time and meet new people. He drove for Uber for two years before switching to instagram as his primary form of communication, employing himself instead of dealing with Uber, its fees and its guidelines. The driver and his red Kia Soul, emblemed with ‘uberJosh’ on its front driver door, are a constant sight around the town of Oswego.
There is a negative stigma about Uber Josh on campus that the driver is very conscious of, with people calling him a creep and even citing actual physical allegations with undetermined merit. Yet, he does not let the rumors get to him.
“Those who choose to ride with me have heard those rumors and laugh because they know me and know I would never do something like that,” Barbour said.
Barbour’s positive attitude and dismissal of these rumors is backed by a key announcement on his instagram page: A letter from the SUNY Oswego Dean’s office releasing him from his status as a persona non grata, which barred him from driving on college grounds.
Uber Josh is back on campus, and he says the Oswego student and alumni community, despite the stigma, had a huge influence on his return.
Barbour is out driving most weekends, and he has always taken great pride in being Oswego’s number one driver.
“I have seen countless Uber drivers come and go,” Barbour said. “Yet for the past four years I am still here. Still driving for the students and people of the Oswego community.”
On Sept. 17th, 2020, the Dean of Students Office informed Barbour that he had been given the status of “persona non grata,” meaning that he was officially banned from passing through Oswego campus grounds. The ban cited screenshots from Uber Josh’s instagram page picturing him and his passengers without face masks in his car, a violation of New York and Uber mask mandates stating all people involved in ride-sharing must wear masks throughout the entire drive.
The driver was shocked by the ban, especially because he had personally witnessed other Uber drivers without face coverings. He understands, though, that more attention will be paid to him due to his popularity and local status.
“I am just the most visible driver in Oswego, and have the most eyes on me at all times,” Barbour.
Barbour tried appealing the campus ban twice, at the start of each upcoming semester. His fall 2020 and spring 2021 appeals were both denied.
“I had no interest in spamming or wasting anyone’s time if a decision had already been made,” Barbour explained, defending the decision to limit his number of appeals.
Barbour was attempting to appeal a COVID-19 related ban at key times during a pandemic. The meetings were not going his way, “each meeting, the Dean would ask me what steps I had taken or changes I had made between our last meeting,” Barbour said. The situation could not be solved just by promising to wear masks inside vehicles again. The school was looking for more from Barbour.
After he was denied for the second time, Barbour took a large step in his pursuit to prove he would follow COVID-19 guidelines by getting vaccinated. He also created an online petition to enlist the help of Oswego students and alumni to get him back on campus, garnering over 85 signatures. In early January 2022, Barbour presented both his vaccination status and his petition to the Dean of Students. After that, all he could do was wait.
On Feb. 7, 2022, Barbour posted to his Instagram a new letter from the Dean of Students Office.
“Your request to end your PERSONA NON GRATA status has been approved,” the letter stated. “Effective immediately you are no longer PERSONA NON GRATA.”
The driver can now drive on campus, with the opportunity to pick people up and drop them off right at their dorms. Barbour celebrates this not for his business, which he said was never really affected by the ban, but for his passengers.
“This doesn’t make my life necessarily any easier,” Barbour wrote on his instagram. “But for those of you who live on-campus, it may open up another transportation option for you to get around Oswego.”
Barbour greatly attributes the overturn of his persona non grata to the petition signed by his student and alumni friends.
“I do think that it had quite a large impact in the decision,” Barbour said.
While pleased that his appeal went through, Barbour is not completely satisfied with the process he had to go through.
“I still feel as though the school could have handled it better initially,” Barbour said. “They acted on something which in my opinion could have been handled better if they had received a bit more context prior to their initial decision.”
As Barbour has no real formal ties to SUNY Oswego, the school was not obligated to reach out to him before labeling him a persona non grata. While understanding that SUNY Oswego works to prioritize the health of its students, Barbour feels the situation could have been handled better if they had contacted him first.
“I felt like they could’ve reached out to me before making a final decision,” Barbour said.
With the many signatures on his petition and the successful appeal of his persona non grata, Barbour should have a positive appearance in Oswego. However, this is not the case as some of the first remarks people make when asked about ‘Uber Josh’ is that he is weird, although many admit they have never actually rode with him firsthand.
“I was keeping mental tabs because of other people’s interactions they had with him,” Oswego freshman Malakai Gadsden said when discussing his first ride with Barbour.
Henry DeVoe, who rode alongside Gadsden, added that “Only thing I have heard before is he only takes girls,” referring to rumors that Barbour only responds to women.
Despite their reservations, the two passengers ended up having a positive ride. The boys had been picked up at 2:30 a.m. They got their ride after a girl called Barbour for them.
“We were joking around and he was laughing with us,” Gadsden said. “That was my first actual interaction with him.”
Uber Josh’s Instagram showcases many pictures of him and his car passengers. Although most of these show him alongside groups of girls, many feature guys in the mix, and there are a few pictures with only guys present. According to Barbour, he does have a mental system in place to choose his passengers.
“Often I have to make a decision between who needs a ride the most, who has the most important emergency and it’s often not that simple,” Barbour said. “I do my best to make myself available to everyone. But it does get quite overwhelming a lot of the time and it’s physically impossible for me to get everyone all the time.”
Barbour does not care how the campus sees him. If the rumors about him were true, Barbour said, he would not have constant passengers every weekend, and his passengers would not refer him to their friends.
No matter what students say, Barbour will continue to drive the City of Oswego, which he can do much easier now that his persona non grata is lifted.
Barbour summed up his resolve for the times ahead with determination: “I drive through rain, blizzards, and dry days and intend to do so for the foreseeable future.”
Image via @uberjosh89 on Instagram
