Advocates for New Yorkers with disabilities have sued taxi regulators for falling short of complying with a legal settlement that required half of the city’s licensed taxis to be wheelchair-accessible.
The suit argues that taxi regulators have shown that they have “no intention of even attempting” to meet the goal.
On Wednesday, the group of advocates, which includes four nonprofits, filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Manhattan urging a judge to order the city to meet the requirement. Only 42 percent of active taxis can accommodate wheelchair users.
“It is so disheartening that the city doesn’t want to be more than 50 percent accessible,” said Dan Brown, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “The fact that they haven’t met the goal is really beyond disappointing and sad.”
Jason Kersten, a spokesman for the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, said in a statement that the commission is “committed to accessibility.”
“When you factor in our entire fleet, we now have almost three times the number of accessible vehicles than we did five years ago,” Mr. Kersten said. “We will keep working to make our fleet even more accessible.”
In their lawsuit, the advocates argued that the lack of accessible taxis makes it harder for some people to access health care appointments, potential jobs and social outings. That, according to the complaint, limits their ability to be free and active members of the community.
In late 2013, the Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed to settle a major class-action lawsuit and adopt regulations that required that half the city’s more than 13,000 yellow cabs be wheelchair-accessible within six years. The deal called for half of all new medallion taxis put into service in any given year to accommodate wheelchairs, until the goal of 50 percent of the city’s fleet was reached.
At the time, George Daniels, the federal judge who is now being asked to enforce the settlement, called the deal “one of the most significant acts of inclusion since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers,” according to the complaint filed on Wednesday.
When the settlement was filed, only 1.8 percent of the fleet was wheelchair-accessible, according to the new lawsuit.
The settlement created a better life for thousands of people, the complaint said. “The accessible yellow taxis now represent the best of New York City and are a model for the rest of the country,” it said.
But the plaintiffs also argued that the city’s progress “falls far short of their court-ordered commitment, much less their moral obligations.”
According to the complaint, taxi regulators initially agreed to make 50 percent of the fleet accessible by 2020 then received an extension until 2023. That extension was granted after transportation officials made the case that the coronavirus pandemic and the rise of ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft had transformed the taxi industry.
According to the suit, the advocates offered one final extension late last year. Instead, city officials indicated that they wanted to be “relieved from the requirements of the settlement,” according to the suit.
The plaintiffs said that although rapid growth has led ride sharing to dwarf the taxi cab industry, street hailing and ride sharing are not interchangeable, in part, because not all people with disabilities have or can use ride sharing apps on smartphones.
