At Least Half Of NYC’s Yellow Taxi Fleet Must Be Wheelchair Accessible By 2028, Court Orders
Progress in a more than decade-old settlement is requiring every new yellow taxi cab entering NYC’s fleet to be wheelchair accessible.
The settlement originally agreed that 50% of NYC’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) fleet must be wheelchair accessible by 2020. It’s recently been adjusted to a 100% rule that requires all new entering taxi cabs to be wheelchair accessible in order to effectively reach the 50% goal after TLC’s lack of compliance, even when the deadline for the original obligation was extended to 2023.
As of June 2023, less than half of NYC’s fleet was wheelchair accessible, only “reaching only 32% for the Authorized Medallion Requirement and 42% for the Active Medallion Requirement”, according to court records.
A new deadline for 50% of the fleet (both Authorized and Active Medallion) to be wheelchair accessible has been set for 2028.
Taxis must perform a “hack-up” (maintenance update) every seven years in NYC. Due to this update ruling, every hack-up from here forth must involve the addition of accessibility equipment.
As of now, there are over 13,000 NYC yellow taxi cabs in commission. Keep in mind that when the original lawsuit was filed, only 2% of NYC’s taxi fleet was wheelchair accessible.
In comparison, NYC now has over 80,000 active ride-share vehicles (Lyft, Uber, etc.). This leads to conflict with NYC taxi drivers arguing the push to retrofit their vehicles adds even more strain on top a slow comeback from Covid-19 and the already difficult competition against ride-share services.
Though the TLC tried to push back and relieve themselves from the settlement claiming “impossibility defense” about their failed compliance (which basically means that they were claiming the ruling was an impossible task), the court denied it, finding that they have not taken “virtually every action within [their] power to perform [their] duties under the contract.”
Therefore, the new deadlines will remain in place, and the TLC must comply. However, if a taxi driver can prove financial hardships, TLC added an amendment to grant them an extra six-month extension to add ramps.
Learn more from the court order which states
The Original Settlement Agreement and Amended Settlement Agreement remain enforceable and Defendants shall (1) immediately take all necessary steps to modify TLC’s current 50% rule to implement a 100% Rule (pursuant to Section III(A)(3)) until they meet the Authorized and Active Medallion Requirements and (2) provide bi-annual reports (as prescribed in Section IV) to Class Counsel and this Court beginning on January 10, 2025.
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