Mayor de Blasio is unveiling a plan that will boost the number of wheel-chair accessible cabs that includes a 30 cent surcharge on all taxi rides.
The surcharge, which riders in both yellow and green cabs will pay, will go to funds for drivers and medallion owners to help them upgrade their non-accessible cars into ones that can accommodate the disabled.
Part of the fund will also go to drivers to help offset some of the higher costs associated with more accessibility, including training.
Currently, only 231 cabs in New York City are wheelchair accessible. The city wants to boost that number to 7,500.
The city will hold a hearing on the new rules on April 30 to get feedback from the public.
If the rules changes pass, the 30 cent fee will begin next year.
The rules changes are the de Blasio administration’s way of making good on a promise by ex-Mayor Michael Bloomberg that at least half of the city’s taxi fleet would be wheelchair accessibly by 2020.
It was part of a legal settlement Bloomberg reached with advocates for the disabled at the end of his third term. Although Bloomberg inked the deal, he did not say how he was going to achieve the lofty goal.
De Blasio’s new Taxi & Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi, who was appointed earlier this month, has said one of her biggest goals would be expanding the number of wheelchair accessible fleets.
