Re: [QUAD-L] question

[KK Batte]

http://www.unitedspinal.org/publications/action/2006/07/01/accessible-taxis-everywhere-a-realistic-goal/ Accessible Taxis Everywhere: A Realistic Goal What’s good news for people with disabilities who want to use taxis in New York City is good news for people with disabilities nationwide. By Terry Moakley At the end of May, partly as a result of advocacy by United Spinal and other local groups, the New York City Council passed a law that soon will raise the total of hybrid or clean-air taxis to 273 and wheelchair- accessible cabs to 231. In a joint press release issued by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office on the day of this vote, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn stated, “We have a responsibility to make sure that all New Yorkers, especially individuals with disabilities and senior citizens, can get around town easily. By adding 204 wheelchair accessible taxis this year, we are taking a step toward our ultimate goal of making every taxi in New York wheelchair accessible.” This objective is shared by the Taxis for All Campaign, a city-based coalition of disability groups that includes United Spinal. In fact, Taxis for All has submitted a proposed bill to the City Council that would gradually transform the yellow taxi system to a totally clean air and wheelchair-accessible service, as existing taxis are replaced. This concept of phasing in accessible cabs through a reasonable replacement cycle received a little boost on May 28, when The New York Times editorialized in favor of this approach. Not Just a New York Concern While all of the above may appear to be “New York- centric,” United Spinal believes strongly that a plan to make all cabs accessible in our city could reverberate nationwide, for several reasons. New York City is the largest new taxi vehicle market in the land. Each year, about one-fourth of new taxi vehicles purchased in this country are placed into service in The Big Apple. Most of the other new taxi vehicles sold annually wind up in a small number of big American cities, including Chicago, Illinois; Washington, DC; and Los Angeles, California. These new taxi vehicles are then re-sold after about two years and recycled as taxis in smaller communities. This is how accessible New York cabs will become accessible Atlanta cabs, for example. The federal transportation law’s New Freedom Program, adopted last August, will provide funds in communities across America in the future for worthwhile transportation projects that go beyond the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements. The ADA does not require that when new taxi vehicles are purchased, they must be wheelchair-accessible taxi vehicles, so the congressional authors of the New Freedom transportation law listed the purchase of accessible cabs in the House-Senate conference report as a potential eligible activity for this funding. The proposed Federal Transit Administration regulations keep the purchase of accessible taxis as an eligible activity, and we think that a lot of communities will choose taxi purchases as a means to improve mobility for citizens with disabilities. Because taxi service operates not just in large cities, but in many suburbs and even in rural towns, United Spinal is poised to launch a national “Taxis for All” education and advocacy effort. We believe that the future availability of wheelchair-accessible taxis in communities large and small could make a tremendous difference for wheelchair-using Americans who currently have no other transportation options. As of this writing, we have a commitment for funding a national Taxis for All project from an American company that has designed, and plans to manufacture, a wheelchair-accessible sedan taxi. Understandably, we are extremely excited to be moving forward on this project, and we will keep Action readers informed in future issues of our progress on it and on the first factory-built accessible taxi in our nation. Terry Moakley, associate executive director of Public Affair, chairs the Taxis for All Campaign.