In the wake of outmaneuvering Mayor de Blasio and helping to defeat his proposal to tightly limit the growth of Uber for a year, Gov. Cuomo’s has proposed creating a new “statewide regulatory framework” for e-hail apps aimed at ironing out government oversight on “insurance, taxes, vehicles . . . access to the airports” and the like.
But this also presents an unprecedented opportunity to provide greater transportation access for New Yorkers with disabilities — one that Cuomo must seize.
Early in any discussions, policymakers must make this clear to the upstart, $40 billion company that now dominates the for-hire vehicle market: It is time to commit to making all of their vehicles in New York City wheelchair-accessible, and to do so within a few years.
Nearly a million New Yorkers — more than one in 10 residents — has a disability. But we still rely on Access-A-Ride and a minuscule number of accessible taxis and other for-hire vehicles to get around the city.
It’s shameful that while every cab in London is accessible to people with disabilities, fewer than 5% of New York City taxis are. The Taxi & Limousine Commission chief even admitted last year that when it comes to all car services, a person using a wheelchair will fail to get a ride nine times out of 10.
We were on the cusp of major progress before Uber reshaped the landscape. In 2013, we found ourselves in a similar situation on what was then the dominant for-hire automobile network: yellow cabs. The disability community had very limited access to taxis; only 231 yellow taxis in New York City were wheelchair-accessible.
With pressure from federal lawsuits, we worked with the city and taxi owners to agree to a deal that would allow disabled New Yorkers the same basic transportation options as everyone else. The agreement struck: As old, inaccessible cabs were phased out, accessible ones would be phased in. Half of New York City taxis would be wheelchair-accessible by 2020.
This commitment was the first step in a long process to get equal treatment, but it was not a sufficient outcome. There should be no argument that the standard should be anything other than 100% accessible vehicles — because wheelchair users should have the same access as anyone else.
Why should e-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, which could well be as pervasive tomorrow as cabs are today, be held to different standards?
Uber has experienced tremendous growth since it was introduced in New York City in 2011. In just four years, it has expanded its fleet to include more than 20,000 operating vehicles. For people who can walk, these cars have brought new mobility options — and tremendous convenience.
But not a single one of those more than 20,000 cars is wheelchair-accessible. Technology could and should be a boon to people with disabilities, but so far, in this revolution, we’ve been on the outside looking in.
Earlier this year, Uber told the Daily News Editorial Board that it would try to persuade some of its drivers, possibly those with family members with disabilities, and therefore a built-in incentive to drive an accessible vehicle, to switch to wheelchair-friendly cars and vans. Josh Mohrer, head of the company’s operations in New York City, said Uber would “probably . . . assist in the cost of that change.”
Such vague promises are woefully insufficient given the active discrimination that thousands of people suffer daily.
There’s a simple way to move forward now that the proposal to cap Uber’s growth has been shelved for four months while the city conducts a study. When a potential cap is revisited four months from now, put a new idea on the table: Let Uber grow at will, so long as the cars it adds can pick up and drop off any passenger in the city.
If that means giving Uber some formal incentive to roll out a new fleet of state-of-the-art accessible vehicles, fine. But I doubt any incentive is necessary given the company’s huge market cap and growing market share.
De Blasio hailed July as “Disability Pride Month,” and thousands of New Yorkers with disabilities recently turned out for a parade to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Unfortunately, a quarter century after the law’s enactment, people with disabilities are still an afterthought and companies are still getting away with acts of discrimination toward disabled New Yorkers.
As July comes to a close, it is time for Uber to work together with Cuomo and de Blasio to commit all of their vehicles to be wheelchair-accessible and ensure disabled New Yorkers have equal access to transportation options.
Weisman is president and CEO of the United Spinal Association.
