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This is one of those items that's newsworthy because we can't believe it's news: Last night the mayor's office sent around a release announcing that wheelchair accessible taxicabs are coming to D.C. for the first time.
How it is even possible there have been no wheelchair taxis in our nation's capital before now? The Post says wheelchair users currently have to call one of two suburban taxi companies that often aren't available to pick them up. Amazing.
In any event, there will soon be 21 total wheelchair friendly taxis operating within the city, split between three cab companies, which will be purchased using $1 million from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board and close to $200,000 from the DC Taxicab Commission.
The cabs should be operating as early as January 2009. Customers looking for a wheelchair accessible cab will be able to call one number and the closest available cab will be dispatched.
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Now this something long over-due but will there be an extra cost?
Can't wait to see how many drunks kids they'll try and stuff in these Yellow Paddy-Wagons on the weekends.
Holy Crap. $57,000 per cab? No wonder there werent any... Do they come with a jar of vaseline in the glove box?
I'm sure this is non-PC, but that pic reminds me of a taxicab version of the Knight Rider truck.
following on the picture comment, could they at least take the middle row of seats out. it looks like someone in a chair in the back is going to feel they're in a lockup
I await the Segway accessible cabs
Perfect for exiting on a skateboard.
@IMGoph, I expect the point of the middle seats are that the person in the wheelchair isn't necessarily going to be the only person going somewhere...
why would the handicapped need taxis? it's not like they actually have to walk anywhere?
groan.
How it is even possible there have been no wheelchair taxis in our nation's capital before now? The Post says wheelchair users currently have to call one of two suburban taxi companies that often aren't available to pick them up. Amazing.
Not amazing considering the cost and low demand. The disabled aren't entitled to taxi rides. Instead of handing out $57,000 vans less 30% to cab companies, we probably would have been better served investing in improved paratransit service.
Roy Spooner, general manager for Yellow Cab Co. of D.C., said he doesn't expect the accessible taxis to be profitable. "We feel it's something that we need to do as part of our social service offering," he said.
Social service offering i.e. get the DC activist class and Jim Graham off our backs for a bit.
"Coward, the disability activist, found himself stranded one day last summer when his electric wheelchair broke down near Alabama Avenue and Seventh Street SE.
"I had to call my uncle," Coward said. "He brought his car -- it took him an hour and 20 minutes."
I bet if he asked nicely enough, Metro PD or the fire department would've pitched in to help or would've flagged down a Metro paratransit van.
@Boomhauer: if the stranded person had waited for MetroAccess to pick him up, he probably would have died of old age in the process. They have a hard enough time picking up their scheduled passengers on a timely basis, let alone pickup unscheduled/emergency stops.
The London cab www.london-fleet.com has a far more elegant solution, and discharges curb side, but it probably doesn't meet the letter of ADA. ADA probably requires that the ramp be x% grade, and automatically operable from the drivers seat.
The London cabs have the ramp, but the lazy DC cabbie has to get his but out of the seat to operate it. The London cabs also have wide and high doors, but again, something in ADA probably effectively mandates the big bulky vans.
It would be far better to have all cabs be more user friendly for people of all abilities, instead of having special vans just to serve the handicapped.
Its a shame the London cabs dont' sell, partly because they can't compete on price with a raggedy 259k mile+ crown vic police interceptor.
As a person who uses a motorized wheelchair I say hurrah! Wheelchair accessible cabs are long over due in DC (as well as many other cities).
I'm an avid user of public transportation, but there are times when a person needs a cab to get home, such as late at night or early in the morning when Metro is closed. I've been stranded at airports or downtown after the Metro closes and it's a huge problem getting home in these situations.
Paratransit can't substitute for accessible cabs. I don't even use paratransit because Metro works for me, but in special cases a cab would come in very handy.
We should take a lesson from London where most (if not all) cabs are required to be accessible and accommodate wheelchairs.
Why don't we have that philosophy in the states of universal inclusion in all of our city planning? Making all streets, buildings, and transportation accessible as we go would provide inclusion for all and no one would have to worry about being stranded or excluded.
"Why don't we have that philosophy in the states of universal inclusion in all of our city planning? Making all streets, buildings, and transportation accessible as we go would provide inclusion for all and no one would have to worry about being stranded or excluded."
Probably because of the potential trade-offs involved.
Most modern facilities and transportation do use universal design - it's retrofitting old systems and facilities that are a bitch.
I always thought the city got around this by providing those little motorized chairs to people. There's a dude who hangs out around the Chinatown CVS who can easily hit 30mph...which is the speed limit 'round here.