27 Accessible Taxis To Debut in New York

by Terry Moakley

Since last April, when the Taxis For All Campaign staged a successful “roll-in” in front of Penn Station in New York City to emphasize the lack of wheelchair accessibility to the city’s massive yellow taxi system, significant progress has been made toward our goal of a fully accessible cab system.

Several weeks after the roll-in, the Daily News printed a lead editorial in favor of converting the taxi fleet to full accessibility, as older cabs are retired from service. Immediately following, City Council Transportation Committee Chairman John Liu (D-Flushing) publicly announced that he planned to introduce a bill in the Council calling for full access. Mr. Liu began a series of separate meetings with the Taxis For All Campaign and representatives of the yellow cab industry.

The Taxis For All Campaign took other action as well. In late May, we held an organizing meeting in Manhattan and signed up many more groups and individuals who had not previously been involved in this struggle. We also developed a “sign-on letter” and asked as many disability groups as possible to lend their support; some 50 organizations added their names to our letter, which was sent in September to the Mayor, the City Council Speaker, and Mr. Liu.

Throughout the late spring and summer months, we met, on average, about every three weeks with Council Member Liu. It soon became clear that three issues were potential “deal breakers” to our quest: the perceived high cost of accessible taxi vehicles; the assumed high cost of accessible taxi insurance; and, the durability of accessible taxi vehicles. So, we began to do our homework, contacting accessible vehicle manufacturers as well as accessible taxi operations in other cities.

Through discussions with commercial conversion companies in Ontario, Canada, Battle Creek, Michigan and Elkhart, Indiana, we were able to document that accessible minivans can be acquired for just $1,000 to $2,000 more, when purchased in volume to receive discounts, than nonaccessible Ford Crown Victoria sedans—the current taxi vehicle of choice in New York City. Some representatives of the taxi industry were telling John Liu that accessible cabs cost $16,000 more than Crown Vic sedans! The figures we were able to verify put a lie to their numbers and the true costs made it into both a Daily News editorial and feature story, as well as several television broadcasts.

The accessible taxi insurance question also turned out to be a “red herring.” Overtures were made to the New York State Department of Insurance about this matter and eventually a letter was obtained from them stating that wheelchair access is not a factor in determining yellow taxi insurance rates; in fact, a high-ranking official from the State Insurance Department testified in person to this point at an October 25 Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) public hearing on the insurance situation in New York City.

Confirming the durability of ramp-equipped, lowered floor minivan taxis continues to be something of a sticking point. However, we have been able to provide examples of accessible taxi operations in Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, and Boston where vehicle durability is very good. On the other hand, some representatives of the New York City taxi industry argue that no other U.S. city has taxi fleets with vehicles that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Taxis For All Campaign continues to believe that passing a law which requires full access over time to the city’s yellow cabs will force manufacturers to achieve improvements in durability.

Near the end of July, the TLC invited us to a meeting to discuss how they would change their rules governing the next auction of 300 new taxi medallions. In a nutshell, they planned to offer the legally required 27 accessible taxi medallions for auction at a true discount and without regard to the amount of money generated by auctioning nonaccessible medallions. We continued to advocate that all 300 medallions being auctioned should be used only on accessible taxis, and we generated some excellent media coverage for our position at the official TLC hearing on these revised rules at the end of August.

On September 14, we sponsored another “roll-in,” this time in John Liu’s district in Flushing, Queens. Again, the news media favorably reported our position and shortly, thereafter, Mr. Liu began to discuss the idea that all 300 remaining new medallions to be auctioned sometime after July 1, 2005 should be placed on accessible vehicles only.

Bids for the 27 accessible medallions auctioned in the current city fiscal year were opened on Friday, October 15. Quite a surprise was the fact that 89 total bids were submitted. Since corporations and individuals may bid on more than one medallion in their bid package, the real number of bids was 256! This outcome clearly proves that there is interest within the city taxi industry in providing wheelchair accessible service. All in all, there were 27 winning or successful bids and the average cost of each accessible medallion came to $275,000—more than the amount the city hoped to generate from each medallion sale but less than the going rate for nonaccessible medallions. We are hopeful that these accessible cabs will be providing service soon.

As we wrap this story, the Taxis For All Campaign is negotiating a new law with Council Member Liu and his staff, with a “go-ahead” from Council Speaker Gifford Miller. A more proactive involvement from the Speaker’s staff was greatly influenced by Council Member Margarita Lopez, who, until last April, was the only champion of accessible taxis on the Council.

The idea of requiring that the final 300 new medallions to be auctioned next year be accessible vehicle medallions is on the table, as is the concept that, beginning somewhere in the future, accessible taxis will replace nonaccessible taxis when the latter are retired from service. We hope to report a favorable outcome for disabled persons on this matter sometime soon.

Terry Moakley, who chairs the Taxis for All Campaign, is Associate Executive Director of Communications and Public Affairs.