Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and the law firm Sheppard Mullin have filed a motion against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) over their failure to follow through on an agreement to make at least 50% of cabs wheelchair accessible by 2020. The motion was filed on behalf of a coalition of people with disabilities, including the Taxis for All Campaign and Disabled In Action.
The TLC made the agreement in a 2014 settlement to a federal class-action lawsuit, which was filed in 2011 under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. When the case began, only 231 of the city’s cabs were wheelchair accessible. After failing to meet the initial deadline, citing struggles at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the TLC was given extensions—which they once again failed to meet by 2023.
“The 2014 agreement in this case was historic and a landmark for inclusive transportation nationwide,” said Chloe Holzman, a senior staff attorney at DRA.
According to Holzman, the TLC’s latest report stated that the total percentage of authorized medallion vehicles that were wheelchair accessible was 32%, well under the 50% clearly stated in the settlement. With New York being one of the best cities for transportation in the country, the low bar concerns advocates. There are nearly 1 million people with disabilities in the five boroughs, according to the New York City Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. That’s about 11% of the population. And census data suggests that about 1 in 15 New Yorkers has an ambulatory disability, meaning they are sometimes or fully impeded from walking.
“People with disabilities are not prioritized. We’re not even equalized, which is really frustrating,” said Jean Ryan, the president of Disabled in Action, which has been organizing since the 1970s. According to the TLC’s most recent report to DRA, there were 4,297 wheelchair-accessible vehicles in the entire licensed fleet as of June 2023. But that doesn’t translate to lived experience, Ryan tells Prism. It’s still random luck if someone hails a cab and it’s accessible for wheelchairs, and even then not all drivers want to make the effort.
Ryan points out that 32% of the taxi fleet being technically accessible doesn’t mean those vehicles are in service at all times, making the number much lower in reality. And with the city recently limiting programs that provide greater autonomy—like a subsidized taxi service for disabled riders—things are feeling dire. Accessible taxis are crucial on their own, but the matter is especially pressing given that other options for transportation are not accessible either.
Currently, only approximately 30% of the subway system in New York City is accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), meaning they are able to accommodate riders with disabilities and can be navigated without climbing stairs. Even then, many accessible subway stations’ elevators frequently break down, causing disabled people to face circumstances like being carried up many steps. Buses can be slow, crowded, and unreliable. Paratransit like Access-A-Ride requires scheduling in advance and often doesn’t show up, which prevents spontaneous travel. Holzman points out that rideshare apps require smartphones that not all New Yorkers—and visitors, disabled or not—have.
Plaintiffs met with representatives from the Adams administration in January to discuss its intentions to file a motion “to be relieved from the requirements of the settlement agreement.” The DRA motion cites that inaccessible taxis have resulted in high unemployment rates and references that some members of the suit have even had to wheel themselves to the hospital because of “the dearth of accessible taxis.”
“I have terrible experiences with taxis and yellow cabs. Either they don’t want to pick me up, they refuse, or they don’t know how to secure me. It’s dangerous riding in the cargo section of a cab and not being secured,” said Ryan, who added that she and other wheelchair users often still wait up to an hour for an accessible dispatch. The 2014 settlement has made a big difference because there are more cabs now that could provide service to people in wheelchairs. However, that’s a technicality. “If they’re not where you are, then you have to use an app to try to get them. And sometimes, they’ll just send an inaccessible vehicle.”
This disregard has sorely impacted disabled people’s quality of life in the five boroughs. Wheelchair users must plan more meticulously about when it’s worth it to leave the house and if they’ll be stranded somewhere. Anything that’s more spontaneous—being sick and needing to go to the doctor or trying to make last-minute plans with a friend—becomes impossible. And Ryan argues that it’s just as important for disabled people to be able to make fun plans that they can get reliable transportation to as it is to run errands or go to the doctor.
“There’s so many things that you can’t do and most people do with their life spontaneously,” Ryan said, noting that if the city actually committed to making forms of transportation accessible, “eventually all of them would be accessible.”
Ryan emphasizes how important it is to be able to go out on the street and hail a cab, knowing you’ll be able to get to your destination—a certainty not afforded to her and others who use wheelchairs. “These are the only vehicles that you can legally hail in New York City … Cabs have been around for over 100 years,” Ryan said. Tourists without local phone plans, people without smartphones for Ubers and Lyfts, wheelchair users, and anyone in a bind should be able to simply get a taxi—which is often more affordable and doesn’t implement surge pricing.
The TLC’s failure to comply with its accessibility obligations is “absolutely compounded by the lack of accessible travel alternatives for wheelchair users,” Holzman said, adding that even with any viable alternatives, the TLC still has an obligation to serve wheelchair users just like it serves other customers. “Wheelchair users need to have access to taxi service like anyone else.”
The direction this case goes in will have a major impact. For now, advocates are waiting to see how Judge George Daniels will rule and hoping it will be in the favor of disabled New Yorkers.
