On November 3, the New York City Taxis For All Campaign, which United Spinal Association helped to organize back in 1996, held a small demonstration at the “Taxi of Tomorrow” exhibit near Madison Square Park in Manhattan.
Assembling directly in front of the exhibit, we 20 or so demonstrators held signs stating that New York City violates the civil rights of wheelchair users according to the U.S. Department of Justice. We also handed out flyers to passersby about why wheelchair-accessible taxis are so important and needed by the 60,000 wheeled mobility device users living in the City, and the millions from around the nation and the world who visit, or would like to visit, the Big Apple. I informed one reporter that disabled veterans of all conflicts would welcome and use wheelchair-accessible cabs in the City, too.
The irony of all this is that the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow is really the taxi of yesterday. Why?
Wheelchair users come together to protest New York City’s inaccessible "Taxi of Tomorrow" . Photo by Ahvi Spindell.
Consider the exhibit itself: there is a ramp up to the doorway from the rear of the mock-up of the Nissan NV200—the so-called Taxi of Tomorrow—then a flat platform at the point where one enters/exits the cab mock-up, and finally a ramp down toward the front of the vehicle and the sidewalk. But as we say in the gimp biz it’s a “ramp to nowhere,” because one has to step up into the NV200 seating area.
Photo by Ahvi Spindell.
Duh! It’s NOT a wheelchair-accessible yellow taxi. What’s worse, automotive experts tell us that the NV200 interior also is too small to be converted to accommodate wheeled mobility device users.
Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Yassky, let’s start referring to this vehicle as what it is: the “Taxi of YESTERDAY.”
Photo by Ahvi Spindell.
And, perhaps you might consider that the City of New York is a “local government” as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that a ruling of the United States Department of Justice is a ruling from an agency of our federal government. Moreover, the City of New York is a city in the State of New York, and the State of New York is one of 50 states in the United States of America (which, by the way, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo does understand). Conclusion: the United States of America IS the federal government.
We’ll see what happens on this issue, but as I testified to the members of the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission on October 20th—the day that they approved the new MV-1 factory-built, wheelchair-accessible and green (optional) vehicle for use as a yellow taxi in New York City—“the handwriting is on the wall.” There will be many more accessible taxis in New York City in the coming months.
Terry Moakley
United Spinal’s Taxi Advocate
The NV200 is very difficult to access by anyone with mobility issue not just wheelchair users. Unlike sitting into the car the passenger has to climb and manoever themsleves into their seat. This is extremely difficult for people with bad hips, knees, backs, obesity etc.
To strengthen your cause I would suggest that you involve organisations like the AARP who should do case studies to show that older people would also have difficulty getting in and out. Your case will be dramatically improved if you show that there will be major benefits to Baby Boomers, because they own 73% of American wealth, and1 in 3 has a disability over the age of 65 (40% of wheelchair users are over 65 etc etc).
Disabled activists need to forge links with big powerful organisations that are focused on elder issues because they share a lot of goals in common and both can benefit greatly by sharing the strenghths that they both posses.
In my opinion the only way to solve the problem is to build a purpose built Taxi the meet the needs of as many different demographics as possiblle. Clearly it has to have a lowered floor and be accessible to the vast majority of the population, not just non disabled people.
@contrary_motion If your interested in discussing further.