Wednesday, April 11, 2007 |
 PDF printer-friendly version of this press release(Link opens in a new browser window; make sure you have the Adobe Reader in order to view, print and/or save the PDF document) Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York | Center for Independence of the Disabled in New York (CIDNY | Disabilities Network of New York City (DNNYC) | Disabled in Action of Metropolitan New York (DIA) | 504 Democratic Club | New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI) | New York City Chapter, National Multiple Sclerosis Society | United Spinal Association (USA) For Immediate Release: April 11, 2007 For More Information, contact: Joe Rappaport, 212-662-4449 or 646-284-1078 Jean Ryan, 917-658-0760 On 100th Anniversary of Gasoline Taxi in New York City, Advocates from Across Country Ask: "Why Can't Wheelchair Users Get a Ride?" Taxi '07 Exhibit Shows New Accessible Vehicles on the Way. But San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and Other Cities Offer Far Better Service Already The Taxis For All Campaign joined out-of-town wheelchair users attending a "Taxi Summit"to urge New York City leaders to "stop making excuses"for the lack of accessible yellow cabs here. Meeting at the Javits Center's Taxi '07 Exhibit on Wednesday with wheelchair and scooter users, taxi fleet owners, regulators and taxi officials from San Francisco, Chicago and other cities, the group spoke out about how New York City lags many U.S. in offering wheelchair accessible taxis. Only 37 cabs are accessible out of 13,087 medallions. Many members of the group rolled their way to the Javits Center site from the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square - where the Taxi Summit is taking place - because the lack of accessible vehicles makes it virtually impossible to get to the Javits Center by taxi. "It's extraordinary that the biggest taxi-using city in the nation can't figure out how to get accessible taxis on its streets,"said Jean Ryan, vice-chair of the Taxis For All Campaign. "The city loses out economically when it can't offer accessible cabs to its own residents and to visitors,"Ryan added. New York City Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council have resisted mandating a gradual transition to an accessible fleet, even though the city's Taxi & Limousine Commission regulates every aspect of the yellow-taxi industry. On Tuesday, Taxi and Limousine Chair Matthew Daus, a Bloomberg appointee, admitted that "other cities are certainly ahead of us"in impromptu remarks before the summit attendees. Promising signs Speakers at Tuesday's summit session described success stories in San Francisco - where accessible vehicles manage to run for years amid the hills and steep slopes - and in Chicago, Houston and Alabama, among other locations. In London, every single taxi is accessible, an initiative that started after city leaders mandated a transition in 1989. Another promising sign is the development of new accessible vehicles, including a fully accessible vehicle by a Michigan-based company, Standard Taxi, on display at the Taxi '07 Exhibit. The exhibit, funded by Standard, also features other innovative, accessible taxi models in development. The Taxi '07 exhibit is a project of the Design Trust for Public Space. "This exhibit shows it can be done - and the experience of other cities shows accessibility is achievable already,"said Anne Davis, chair of the Taxis For All Campaign. Little progress in New York City In a letter to TLC Chairman Daus, 50 groups and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer urged the City to abandon plans for a "call-in"system that wheelchair users described as an "Access-A-Ride Jr."-and to support legislation that "would, gradually, lead to full conversion of the yellow cab fleet so that all New Yorkers can use our city's taxis." The groups also wrote:
City Council Intro. 378, introduced by Council Member Oliver Koppell and sponsored by 26 council members, would - over a period of several years - require taxi operators to buy accessible and lower-polluting vehicles. In 2006, the Council passed legislation that would require another 150 accessible taxi medallions to be sold. They will be in service in late 2007 or in early 2008, the TLC says. The city's taxi industry has opposed the bill, just as the auto industry resisted seat belts, air bags, and fuel economy requirements until the government required them to introduce them. "If the Bloomberg administration wants to show it means business, it'll adopt a mandate that will make accessible taxis a reality in the next several years, not in the 2020s or 2030s,"said Terry Moakley, another Taxis For All Campaign member. "It's time to stop making excuses when other cities leave us behind." |
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PDF printer-friendly version of this letter (Link opens in a new browser window; make sure you have the Adobe Reader in order to view, print and/or save the PDF document) Taxis For All Campaign | National Multiple Sclerosis Society, New York City Chapter | 344 East 28th Street Tenant Association | 504 Democratic Club | 504 Democratic Club-North Star | Action Toward Independence | Alzheimer's Association, NYC Chapter | Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York | Association of Travel Instruction | Barrier Free Living | Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled | Center for Disability Rights | Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY | Center for Independent Living of South Jersey, Inc. | Chippewa Democratic Club | City Access New York | Student Disability Services, City University of New York | Community Access | CWA Local 1180 Committee on Members with Disabilities | Deafness Research Foundation | Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York | Disabilities Network | Disabilities Network of NYC | Friends of Seravalli | Gray Panthers NYC | Handicapped Adult Association of Co-Op City | Harlem Independent Living Center | Helen Keller Services for the Blind | Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley Inc. | JPAC | Lamba of Bronx County | Largest Minority | Long Term Care Community Coalition | Mobility Impaired Artists Westbeth | National Federation of the Blind of NY Staten | New York Lawyers for the Public Interest | NY Metro Gallaudet University Alumni Association | New York State Independent Living Council | Regional Center for Independent Living | Roosevelt Island Disabled Association | Salvation Baptist Church | Self-Advocacy Association of New York State | Staten Island Center For Independent | Staten Island Amputee Club | Synergia | Taxi & Limousine Advisory Committee | United Spinal Association | Urban Justice Center | Hermina Jackson & Virtus Haynes Acting Group | Westchester Disabled On the Move Inc. April 11, 2007 Matthew Daus Commissioner/Chair, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission 40 Rector Street New York, NY 10006 Dear TLC Chair Daus: Our groups write to urge you to abandon any proposal for a central dispatch system-an "Access-A-Ride Jr."-and to support legislation that would, gradually, lead to full conversion of the yellow cab fleet so that all New Yorkers can use our city's taxis. We also urge you to advance the date of the long-overdue sale of 150 new accessible yellow taxis and get them onto New York City's streets for regular hail service as soon as possible. These vehicles have been authorized for sale for more than a year. 40 minutes or more for a cab A dispatch system would create a separate and unequal system in which only wheelchair and electric scooter users would have to phone in for a yellow cab – a vehicle that may never show up if it gets stuck in traffic or picks up a street hail. (The Access-A-Ride users in our groups know all too well the delays that are inherent in a call-in system.) The TLC's own description of the dispatch system shows a "passenger service level"in which 50% of wheelchair users who call for a cab would wait more than 40 minutes for a pick-up. Why should any New Yorker put up with such a substandard system? And this is no "stop-gap"measure, since with no TLC and legislative commitment to a phased-in transition to accessible and green vehicles, the "gap"goes on forever. Lack of political will The lack of wheelchair service in New York City is not a lack of available technology but a lack of political will. Until legislation passes that mandates a conversion to accessible and green cabs over a reasonable period, the taxi industry will resist the change, just as the auto industry resisted seat belts, air bags, and fuel economy requirements. Taxis in London have been accessible for years, with a transition starting in 1989. Nearly two decades later, it's long past due for the City of New York to afford wheelchair users the same basic opportunity to get around our city. Yours truly, Anne Davis Taxis For All Campaign Hon. Scott M. Stringer Manhattan Borough President Craig Gurian Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York Patricia Walls 504 Democratic Club - North Star Edith Prentiss 504 Democratic Club Rhonda Longstreet-Lawlor Action Toward Independence Ann Berson Alzheimer's Association, NYC Chapter Margaret M. Groce Association of Travel Instruction Paul Feurstein Barrier Free Living Joan Serrano Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled Chris Hilderbrant Center for Disability Rights Susan Dooha Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York Hazel Lee-Briggs Center for Independent Living of South Jersey, Inc. Frank Randazzo Chippewa Democratic Club Ken Struve City Access New York Chris Rosa Student Disability Services, City University New York Vuka Stricevic Community Access Alan Goldblatt CWA Local 1180 Committee on Members with Disabilities Janice L. Schacter Deafness Research Foundation Carr Massi Disabled In Action of Metropolitan New York Sandy Hecker Disabilities Network Alexander Wood Disabilities Network of New York City James Brennan Friends of Seravalli Judy Lear Gray Panthers NYC Anna Capell Handicapped Adult Association of Co-Op City Christina Curry Harlem Independent Living Center Jane Thompson Helen Keller Services for the Blind Cliff Perez Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley Inc. Molly Krakowski JPAC Lewis Goldstein Lamba of Bronx County TK Small Largest Minority Long Term Care Community Coalition Margie Rubin Mobility Impaired Artists Westbeth Mindy Jacobsen National Federation of the Blind of New York State New York Lawyers for the Public Interest Renate K. Alpert New York Metro Gallaudet University Alumni Association Joseph M. Jabaley National Multiple Sclerosis Society, New York City Chapter Brad Williams New York State Independent Living Council Bruce Darling Regional Center for Independent Living Virginia Granato Roosevelt Island Disabled Association Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr. Salvation Baptist Church Ramon Aldecoa & Michelle Teusch Self-Advocacy Association of New York State Dorothy Doran Staten Island Center For Independent Living Bernie Abramowitz Staten Island Amputee Club Mary Somoza Synergia Pam Bates TLC Advisory Committee Terry Moakley United Spinal Association Urban Justice Center Hermina Jackson & Virtus Haynes Acting Group Melvyn Tanzman Westchester Disabled On the Move Inc. Rafaela Puerto 344 East 28th Street Tenant Association Address return mail c/o: Terry Moakley
Taxis For All Campaign United Spinal Association 75-20 Astoria Boulevard, Jackson Heights, NY 11370 |
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