Taxis for the
Disabled
To the Editor:
 Re “With
Pride of New Taxi Medallion, the Gravity of New
Realities” (news article, May 27), about
the increase in Taxi medallions in New York
City:
A
striking omission in this expansion effort
is the complete disregard of the city’s
disabled. Currently, only 5 taxicabs in the
city’s fleet of 12,487 are accessible
to wheelchair users. This compares poorly
with cities like Chicago and San Francisco.
While the City Council passed legislation
allowing the 9 percent of the new medallions
to be set aside for wheelchair-accessible taxicabs, none of the 300 medallions
sold thus far were placed on such vehicles.
The
city should not permit the taxicab fleet
to increase without providing access
for the 60,000 wheelchair users who reside
here. It should require that new medallions
be awarded to wheelchair-accessible vehicles
to achieve some measure of taxi access
for people with disabilities who live
in and visit New York City.
BETTINA B. PLEVAN
New York, May 28, 2004
The writer is president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
The New York Times
June 1, 2004
|
