Judge Mandates All New York City Taxi Cabs Become Wheelchair Accessible

Small victories and big wins!

A federal judge ruled that all New York City taxi cabs will be required to be wheelchair accessible after a decades-long court-ordered obligation, New York Daily News reports.

On Aug. 30, Judge George Daniels ordered the Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) to make all new taxis wheelchair-accessible until the city meets the 50% requirement once agreed upon in a 2013 settlement. A host of disability advocates sued the group in early 2024 after they failed to reach the settlement terms, which included 50% of the city’s 13,587 yellow cabs being wheelchair accessible by 2020.

The transportation options that flood the streets of the Big Apple have 3,752 handicapable yellow cabs accessible, only 28% of all cabs issued by TLC. However, 42% of taxis make regular trips. Daniels’ ruling now requires the group to abandon its practice of having just 50% of new cabs be accessible and move forward with requiring all new and renewed cabs to be accessible until they reach the goal. “…Retaining the current practice leaves [the TLC] with no concrete prediction for when they would meet the requirement, if at all,” the judge wrote.

Court documents reveal that TLC could have reached 50% accessibility with active cabs by the end of 2024 if every new cab is required to be wheelchair-accessible. TLC once claimed making half of the entire cab fleet wheelchair accessible was impossible, arguing that a stricter mandate would deter drivers away due to the expense of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. However, Daniels rejected their claim. “The record simply reflects a lack of will and creative solution,” he wrote.

According to a press release shared with Black Enterprise, legal representatives for the advocacy groups, which included Taxis For All Campaign, United Spinal Association, 504 Democratic Club, and Disabled In Action, said the groups are pleased with Daniels’ ruling, saying people using wheelchairs deserve the same accommodations as everyone else. The court rightly found that there are more tools the TLC can use to increase the accessibility of its taxi,” Senior Staff Attorney at Disability Rights Advocates Madeleine Reichman said.

“Wheelchair users deserve to have as many opportunities to use the City’s iconic yellow taxi service as non-wheelchair users.”

In a statement, TLC’s Commissioner David Do said the ruling is fair and that the city will abide by it.

“Our commitment to accessibility is unwavering, and we will move swiftly to propose rules reflecting Judge Daniels’s decision,” Do said. “Working to ensure that people with disabilities have exactly the same access to transportation as everyone else has always been one of our top priorities, and this only reinforces that commitment.”

At the time of the agreement, signed by Daniels in 2014, he called the settlement “one of the most significant acts of inclusion in this city since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers” as more than 98% of the city’s yellow cabs were inaccessible to passengers who used wheelchairs.