Immediate Release:  February 19, 2009

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance scored a huge victory for taxi drivers and riders who are disabled as the Mayor's office agreed to the union's proposals for changes to the TLC's wheel-chair accessible taxi dispatching program.

The new policies go into effect March 1st.   

NYTWA had been calling for an end to a TLC policy of letting accessible vans go straight into the moving lane at JFK Airport, without having to wait in the lot like all other taxi drivers.  "It's been keeping the accessible taxis at JFK and emptying them out of the rest of the city," said NYTWA Executive Director Bhairavi Desai.  "Meanwhile, drivers of all other cars watched their wait time in the lot double up to as much as three hours.  Riders who wanted a wheel-chair accessible cab outside of JFK and the drivers inside JFK both suffered."

While drivers normally can only enter the "short-haul ticket lane" after already waiting in the lot and completing a fare to a near-by destination, accessible taxi drivers were given automatic access.  And they were sent to the next available fare at the terminal, not necessarily riders in need of accessible taxis.  The Mayor's Office agreed to NYTWA's proposal of giving access only after a dispatched call is completed on that day.

The city also agreed to sending messages to drivers as fares become available city-wide, instead of requiring drivers to log-in to zones, using a Blackberry.  "Yellow cabs are always in motion.  By the time a call comes in one zone, we are already in another one," said Beresford Simmons, 60, one of the first wheel-chair taxi purchasers in the industry, and NYTWA Organizing Committee Member.  "Now, after a passenger makes the call to 311, we can be hailed through a message and the first one to respond gets the fare, just like it is on the streets."    

The proposals have been greeted with optimism and a renewed call for more accessible taxis by advocates for the disabled.  "Wheelchair users had given up on central dispatch because taxis just wouldn't come, so we are hopeful that the change proposed by the Taxi Workers Alliance will work," said Jean Ryan, vice chair of the Taxis For All Campaign, a coalition that advocates for wheelchair-accessible taxis and car services. "In the end, though, what we really need are enough accessible cabs on city streets so we can hail a cab rather than be forced to call for one."

Drivers at JFK were elated by the news.  "We were really suffering.  We all lost ten, eleven fares a week.  Instead of rewarding us for working there, we were being punished," said Tanveer Mohammed.  Mr. Simmons, who refused to go straight into the short-haul line and "break the unity," said he was both relieved drivers are no longer being treated unequally and hopeful more disabled passengers would be served.   

Contacts:
Bhairavi Desai, NYTWA, 917-945-7286
Jean Ryan, Taxis For All Campaign, 917-658-0760