NYC Announces Plan to Finance Wheelchair Accessible Taxis
Earlier this year New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a 30-cent surcharge on all yellow and street hail livery taxi rides, as a plan to fund their conversions to wheelchair-accessible taxis. Late last year the Bloomberberg administration announced the settlement of a landmark lawsuit brought by disabled citizens, in which the city agreed to make half the taxi fleet accessible by 2020; however there were no plans to finance the conversions. The new surcharge will begin next year, while a lottery system will determine which medallion holders will convert their vehicles first. There are currently approximately 400 wheelchair-accessible taxis in the fleet; however the settlement will bring that number to 6,500 by 2020.