Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration finally has a plan to make New York City's taxi and limousine fleet more wheelchair accessible.
On April 24, the de Blasio administration's Taxi and Limousine Commission will hold a hearing on rules that will impose a $0.30 per ride surcharge on all taxi and boro taxi riders, according to a copy of the draft proposal obtained by Capital.
The revenue will finance the conversion of both yellow and borough taxi vehicles from non-wheelchair-accessible vehicles to accessible ones.
Both surcharges would begin in 2015, and conversions would begin by 2016.
The rules address concerns raised by the yellow taxi industry about affordability (accessible cabs cost more money than unaccessible cabs), and would require all new drivers to get "wheelchair passenger assistance training" starting June 1 of this year.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission had no immediate comment.
The purpose of the rules is to make half of the taxi fleet accessible by 2020, as required by a legal settlement reached by the Bloomberg administration and accessibility advocates late last year. Seemingly a more realistic target than that of Mayor Boris Johnson who is seeking to make all London Taxis electric or zero emission by 2020.
London's Taxis, again voted the "Best Taxi Service In The World" for the 6th consecutive year, are of course already 100% wheelchair accessible.
This has to be good news for Nissan, who already have a plans in production for version of the NV200 Taxi of Tommorow, for the London market.
Meanwhile....Looking East.
Special Taxis to Provide Service to Disabled Customers in Abu Dhabi.
The Mercedes Vito will now be available for special needs passengers who are on wheelchairs.
The centre for Regulations of Transport, of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Transport is providing a new service for people with special needs. These taxis have been made in Spain and have a hydraulic platform which raises the wheelchair into the vehicle.
The wheelchair is tightly set by a strap and customers are provided with special seat belts as well. Other than accommodating people with special needs it also offers four regular passenger seats.
“We have six such cars, two at the airport and four for the city. The charge is normal taxi fare and disabled customers may also use their discount card provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs,” said Mohammed Al Qumzi, General Manager of the centre.
Passengers with special needs will benefit from this service since it will improve the overall customer experience making their commute more comfortable.
