NYC meets 50% milestone for accessible yellow cabs
Half of New York City's active fleet of iconic yellow taxi cabs are now wheelchair accessible, Taxi and Limousine Commission chief David Do announced Thursday, marking a milestone mandated by a 2013 settlement agreement.
'In an effort that began 12 years ago, the disability community rightfully demanded 50% of all taxi cabs — approximately 5,100 vehicles — to be wheelchair accessible,' Do told reporters standing outside the TLC's Woodside, Queens, inspection facility. 'And we made that today.'
As of Thursday morning, according to TLC data, 5,140 cabs — roughly 51% of the active fleet of just under 10,000 taxis — were wheelchair accessible.
That number does not include the roughly 3,600 taxi medallions 'in storage' — meaning medallions that are owned, but not currently attached to a vehicle making regular trips.
'Everyone usually takes it for granted that they have options to go on transportation,' said Milagros Franco, an intake coordinator at the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled.
'For the females here, you don't have to plan your hot dates according to your transportation,' Franco said to the crowd of reporters and TLC officials. 'Hallelujah, praise the Lord, that I no longer have to do that — [I] have options now.'
'I'm so happy that we have finally reached the 50% benchmark,' she added. 'What's our next step? Let's move forward to 100% accessibility.'
Franco and Do, joined by Deputy Mayor for Operations Jeffrey Roth, BCID head Joe Rappaport and TLC Commissioner Paul Bader, ceremonially bolted the medallion on Cab No. 9G84, representing the 50% benchmark for the active taxi fleet.
'I'd like to thank the disability community and the Taxis for All campaign for your patience, persistence and resilience,' Do said. 'You know better than anyone that should have happened years ago.'
The legal battle for more accessible cabs began in 2011, when Taxis for All, a consortium of advocates, first filed suit. At the time, less than 2% of New York City taxi cabs could accommodate a wheelchair.
The suit was settled in 2013, with the TLC agreeing to make half of the entire 13,587-cab fleet accessible by 2020.
When Manhattan Federal Judge George Daniels signed off on the agreement in 2014, he called the settlement 'one of the most significant acts of inclusion in this city since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.'
Both sides negotiated extensions after the disruption of the taxi industry by rideshare apps and the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, eventually settling on a 2023 deadline.
But four years past the initial deadline, only 32% of the city's total taxi medallions were affixed to wheelchair-accessible vehicles.
As previously reported by the Daily News, the TLC had argued the agreement to make half of the entire medallion fleet accessible was impossible, arguing a stricter mandate would turn drivers away from yellow cabs, due to the expense of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which can run north of $80,000
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has since negotiated a loan program, under which $5 million from the Empire State Development Corporation can be loaned at low rates to drivers through the Disability Opportunity Fund to partially back the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
That pilot program is only open to a group of 100 drivers at the moment. NYTWA head B'hairavi Desai told the Daily News she is working to expand the program.
For other drivers, the TLC's own taxi improvement fund — funded by a $1 surcharge on cab fares — provides $20,000 in grant money to drivers toward accessible-vehicle purchases.
Under the terms of the 2013 settlement, the TLC is required to make half its entire yellow cab fleet accessible within the next three years — not just the active fleet of cars making regular trips.
The size of that fleet is set by law, which caps the number of medallions at 13,587. That means the TLC will need to add some 2,000 more accessible cabs by the end of 2028.
'We're going to meet the deadline,' Do said.
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