On Wednesday, October 19, 2011, Council Member Oliver Koppell, Chair of the Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse and Disability Services, joined with numerous colleagues and advocates for people with disabilities to call for a taxi fleet in New York City that is 100% wheelchair accessible.
According to the Daily News editorial on October 16, 2011, “of the 13,237 yellow cabs in New York City, only 231 can accommodate a wheelchair. That‘s 1.7%, making the chance of hailing one almost impossible.”
“This is wholly unacceptable,” Koppell said. “Also unacceptable is the fact that the Mayor and the Taxi and Limousine Commission have chosen an inaccessible Nissan model to be the so-called “Taxi of Tomorrow” that will be the exclusive design for New York City taxicabs for at least the next decade.”
In a recent filing, the Justice Department has strongly concluded that the Mayor’s decision to choose one inaccessible van model for the “Taxi of Tomorrow” and reliance on an ill-conceived dispatch plan violates the American with Disabilities Act.
Koppell has introduced a bill, with 36 co-sponsors, that would require all new taxicabs to be accessible, in compliance with the ADA requirement for equality of access. It’s time for the Council to move this legislation forward,” Koppell said “because we cannot rely on the Mayor to respect the civil rights of people with disabilities. His comments on his radio program clearly indicate that he does not understand the reality that wheelchair using New Yorkers face.”
There is a growing consensus among New Yorkers that it is time to create a taxi fleet that can accommodate wheelchairs, which is reflected in the statements of former TLC Chairs Diane McGrath-McKechnie and Christopher Lynn who wrote to the Mayor saying, “It’s time to reverse the shameful lack of progress and make all taxi and car services wheelchair accessible.”
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