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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

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.

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.

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."