MV-1 (Courtesy of Vehicle Production Group)
Most taxicabs, being of the squat Ford Crown Victoria model, are not the most accessible vehicles for physically disabled people. In the District, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who oversees the livery industry, has been nudging cab companies to add more rear-entry wheelchair-accessible vans to their fleets, but it’s a slow process and one that requires cab owners (often drivers) to pay significant sums to remodel their vehicles. Some of the costs can be defrayed by federal grants, but retrofitting a minivan for handicapped accessibility is about a $12,000 process.
A Miami-based company, Vehicle Production Group, manufactures a vehicle made with disabled passengers specifically in mind. The company’s van, the MV-1, is a proprietary design not modified from the body of another car.
“It was built from the ground up,” the company’s CEO, Fred Drasner, told DCist in March.
The vehicles are in use or approved for use in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas as cabs. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority put 15 of them on the road earlier this year for use in the MetroAccess program.
And while Vehicle Production Group is still awaiting its first D.C. cab customer, its model has shown up on the roads in Prince George’s County. The Post reports today that a company in D.C.’s eastern neighbor recently rolled out a fleet consisting of MV-1s and is offering a new method of transportation to county residents who need an accessible lift.
Accessible Taxi has 15 MV-1 cabs in its fleet, and is making life much easier for people who before had difficulty getting around town.
Accessible Taxi Owner David Mohebbi, a veteran in the region’s taxi industry, said he hopes that his company, with headquarters in Capitol Heights, can provide a transportation option for people with disabilities and that the MV-1 models can deliver an easier and more comfortable experience.
“Our thinking was to help people who are in need of transportation. Now I am glad to see it finally come to a reality,” said Mohebbi, who also serves as president of the Gaithersburg-based Regency Taxi, which has 150 cabs in Montgomery County.
Mohebbi also told the Post, though, that only three of his 15 MV-1 cabs are in operation so far; the drivers of the other 12 still need to obtain their licenses.
But the effect the MV-1 could have as a cab is obvious. Perhaps its biggest functional advantage is that it offers side, rather than rear entry, a major safety improvement.
“It’s dangerous. You load like luggage,” Drasner said of rear entry.
But the impact to potential customers is even greater than added safety features. The Post followed around Patricia Sanders, Prince George’s County coordinator for complaints relating to the Americans with Disabilities Act. She teared up the first time she got in an MV-1.
