Video Shows TLC’s Failure to Require Accessibility for NYC Cabs
July 27, 2010
Recently, I posted about the hearing I held on July 14th focusing on the need for New York City’s taxi fleet to be completely accessible to people with disabilities.
Below is a video clip from the hearing, in which Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky discusses how the TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposal (RFP) does not make accessibility a requirement in vehicle designs, only a goal. My bill (A.7842) would mandate a 100% accessible taxi fleet by requiring that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.
You can access video footage of the entire hearing here.
Hearing Exposes Failure of TLC to Make Cabs Accessible
July 16, 2010
I have always been a strong proponent of making New York City’s taxi fleet 100% accessible to people with disabilities. In June of 2009, I released my report Stranded, which documented the failure of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission’s central dispatch pilot program. My report Not For Hire exposed the failure of a TLC rule requiring for-hire vehicle (FHV) companies to offer equivalent service to customers using wheelchairs. I have blogged extensively about my work to make an accessible taxi fleet a reality.
On Wednesday I held a hearing with the Assembly Committee on Cities, Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, Committee on Transportation, and the Assembly Task Force on People with Disabilities, focusing on the need to achieve a fully accessible taxi fleet, and on my legislation (A. 7842) to mandate that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible cabs into service when replacing old vehicles.
At the hearing, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky admitted that the TLC’s central dispatch pilot program was a failure. Back in December 2007, I wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Post raising concerns about the program. Unfortunately, my predictions proved correct. Now that this two-year pilot program has ended, the TLC has no way of getting accessible taxis to the people who need them. Until there are more accessible taxis on the road, the nearly 60,000 people with disabilities in New York City will continue to be left stranded- and as it stands, the TLC still has no firm plans to provide equal service for customers with disabilities.
As the hearing highlighted, the Commission’s plans for a “Taxi of Tomorrow” fail to include any guarantee of accessibility. The TLC’s Taxi of Tomorrow Request for Proposals (RFP) only makes accessibility a goal, not a mandate. Without such a mandate, the door is left open for accessibility criteria to fall by the wayside when determining the vehicle chosen for the Taxi of Tomorrow initiative. Accessibility should be a requirement, not a goal.
Report: TLC Failing Livery and Black Car Customers in Wheelchairs
April 21, 2010
Outside of Manhattan, for-hire vehicles–black cars and livery cabs–are often the only real way to get around. But wheelchair users are finding the door slammed in their face.
Today I am releasing a report that exposes the failure of a New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) rule requiring for-hire vehicle (FHV) companies to offer equivalent service to customers using wheelchairs. The report finds that only 4% of livery car companies—and no black car companies—can accommodate service requests by riders in wheelchairs at a price and within a time frame equivalent to what is available for able-bodied riders. And price gouging of customers with disabilities is rampant and outrageous: on average, those livery companies that did offer accessible vehicles charged $37 more per ride for those vehicles than for ordinary cars—while black car companies charged an average of $109 more.
Moreover, the TLC admits that it only planned to begin enforcing compliance with the rule in December 2009—six years after the rule went into effect.
The magnitude of the TLC’s failure is shocking. The Commission does not even dispute the numbers in my report—they know they’ve failed, but it’s wheelchair users who are paying the price.
Among the report’s key findings:
-Only 4% of livery car companies were able to offer trips for wheelchair users at an equivalent price and within a reasonable time frame;
-40% of livery car companies and 43% of black car companies said that they would be unable to provide any services for a wheelchair user;
-Livery companies that did offer accessible vehicles charged an average of $37 more that service than for ordinary cars, while black car bases charged an average of $109 more;
-Of the 30,110 livery and black car vehicles on the road, only 75—0.2%—are accessible.
TLC Rule 6-07(f) requires all FHV companies to offer service for wheelchair users equivalent to that offered for the able-bodied, either by providing their own accessible vehicles or by contracting with another provider. My report finds that only 14% of livery companies and 2% of black car companies own wheelchair-accessible vehicles—while 152 livery companies and 12 black car companies claimed to rely on the same four third-party contractors to provide accessible vehicles. These contractors often charge FHV companies exorbitantly high rates for their vehicles.
The report, “Not for Hire: How Non-Compliance by For-Hire Companies and Lack of Enforcement by the TLC are Failing Wheelchair Users,” was researched through phone calls to every one of the 495 livery companies and all 68 black car companies in New York City. Companies were asked to verify their compliance with Rule 6-07 (f). Companies that indicated that they could provide accessible service were called again with an inquiry about the pricing and availability of accessible vehicles for a trip to LaGuardia Airport.
During the follow-up calls, the callers did not identify themselves as calling from an Assembly office—under these less official circumstances, my staffers discovered that many companies had been blatantly lying about their ability to provide accessible vehicles–at least 90 of the livery companies that had initially claimed to be able to provide accessible service now stated that they were unable to do so, while another 67 provided a phone number as a referral to another service rather than directly dispatching a vehicle—a violation of the TLC rule.
The report’s recommendations include:
-FHV bases that own a large number of vehicles should be required to have accessible vehicles in their fleets;
-The TLC should clearly identify on its website those FHV companies that own accessible vehicles;
-The TLC should restrict the number of FHV companies allowed to affiliate with a single third-party contractor;
-The TLC should monitor third-party providers for price gouging and other inequitable practices, and price gouging should incur significant penalties;
-The TLC should undertake periodic audits of livery and black car companies to ensure compliance.
The TLC needs to radically re-think its approach. The best thing the TLC can do now is revoke Rule 6-07(f), bring together advocates and the industry, and start from scratch. It’s clear that when it comes to making livery cabs and black cars accessible, the Commission has spent the last six years going nowhere.
The report is available below, and as a downloadable PDF here.
Access-A-Ride Cuts Will Leave Disabled Riders Stranded
December 17, 2009
On Wednesday, State Senator Tom Duane and I gathered with disabilities advocates, for-hire vehicle industry representatives, and Access-A-Ride users in front of Selis Manor in Manhattan to oppose the MTA’s slashing of the Access-A-Ride operating budget. Access-A-Ride, New York City Transit’s paratransit service, is the only mode of transportation for people with disabilities who are unable to take regular mass transit.
The MTA plans to cut $40 million from its operating budget this year, and $80 million the next.
No written plan exists explaining how Access-A-Ride is expected to absorb these cuts. Transit officials have shared only that they plan to examine their “legal obligation to provide door-to-door services.”
Last fall I met with the MTA and proposed that Access-A-Ride users be issued debit or credit cards to use in New York City taxis and for-hire-vehicles. MTA officials said they liked the idea and would implement a pilot program. I first wrote to New York City Transit in February of 2009 to propose the concept. (See the Publications section of my website for both the proposal and my original letter to Howard Roberts.)
To my severe disappointment the MTA has yet to do move towards implementing this, despite the fact that the city has estimated that a debit or credit card system would save taxpayers $50 million a year in paratransit services—that’s $10 million more than the MTA says it must cut. I have heard from the for-hire vehicle industry that they are excited about what this could mean for their businesses, and they have already worked out a plan with credit card providers to make it work.
Instead of using this economic crisis to hurt people with disabilities who are dependent on paratransit services, the MTA should be seeing this as an opportunity to look hard at what’s not working and be innovative.
TLC Central Dispatch is Failing to Provide Adequate Services to Wheelchair Users
October 23, 2009
Central Dispatch was launched as a two-year pilot program in July 2008 to match scattered wheelchair users looking for a taxi with a limited number of accessible taxis. I was –and remain– very supportive of the concept of the program; I wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Post saying so “(The City Needs Cabs For All” - December 5, 2007). In my article, I raised concerns about how Central Dispatch was being structured—and sadly many of my gripes have proven to be very real problems.
After receiving a number of complaints from wheelchair users who told me that the program was not working a few months into the pilot, I conducted a study between December 2008 and January 2009 to determine how well the two-year pilot program was meeting its own goals and the needs of our city’s 60,000 wheelchair users. I blogged about the results of that study early last summer (”STRANDED: How the TLC is Failing Wheelchair Users,” June 7, 2009).
On October 22nd, I was pleased that NYC Council Transportation Committee Chair John Liu held an oversight hearing to examine how well Central Dispatch is meeting its goals and serving wheelchair users. I gave testimony at that hearing, a copy of which can be downloaded from the Publications page of my blog.
Ultimately, until there are more accessible taxicabs it will remain challenging for the TLC to provide the excellent customer service that wheelchair customers deserve to receive. That is why I sponsor a bill with State Senator Tom Duane (A.7842/S.4861) to mandate that after June 30, 2011, taxi owners may put only accessible taxicabs into service when replacing vehicles that have reached their TLC-mandated retirement age.
How to Save $50 Million a Year …and Improve Access-A-Ride
September 16, 2009
An estimated 60,000 wheelchair-users live in New York City, but only 238 of the 13,000 medallion yellow cabs (less than 2%) are able to accommodate a wheelchair passenger. This is an every day reality for wheelchair users who are often left stranded without access to a key element of New York City’s transportation infrastructure. To address this unequal access to transportation, I sponsor a bill (A.7842/S.4861) with State Senator Tom Duane to require that by 2011, all taxicabs in New York City are accessible to people with disabilities.
My Op-Ed, “Escape from Access-A-Ride,” in the New York Post on Saturday, September 12th pointed out that having a 100% accessible taxi fleet doesn’t just make sense from a civil rights perspective — it could also save millions of dollars for the Access-A-Ride program. These are costs borne by the cash-starved City and MTA budgets. And, not only could we save public dollars, we could do all this and provide a better service for paratransit consumers.
An Opening for Artists with Disabilities
August 21, 2009
Assembly Member Kellner with artist, Octavia Lanford.
On a beautiful August Thursday, I had the honor of serving as Master of Ceremonies at a ground-breaking art opening at the Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association Gallery (RIVAA), as over 80 stunning works of art created by artists with cerebral palsy went on display. The dozens of artists were joined by family members, friends, and supporters. As someone with cerebral palsy myself, this was an especially proud occasion for me.
I am proud to have helped make this exhibition a reality. For the last year, thanks to the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State, I have been privileged to display in my office works by three of the artists who are now represented at RIVAA (as I reported in a post last August). Earlier this year, I suggested that the RIVAA Gallery would be the ideal place to stage a broader exhibition featuring pieces by artists with disabilities. Roosevelt Island is a community designed to be inclusive of people with disabilities, and RIVAA is one of the island’s prime cultural treasures — so the show and the location were a natural fit.
Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State Metro Services, United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, and Queens Centers for Progress worked together to produce the exhibition, which features a diverse and colorful collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures on subjects including nature, life in New York City, and the artists themselves.
Thanks are due to CP of NYS, UCP, and QCP, as well as to RIVAA, for bringing us this wonderful show. The exhibition runs until September 7, and I strongly encourage you to stop by and check it out, whether or not you live on Roosevelt Island. The gallery is at 527 Main Street.
Below, is a poster produced by CP of NYS that is a collage of images from the opening night.
Interviewed on PBS
July 10, 2009
Recently, I was featured in a lengthy interview with Dara Welles on WLIW 21’s “New York Insiders.”
We had a great conversation about what’s next for New York City’s schools, as well as Second Avenue Subway construction issues - and we also discussed broader topics like marriage equality, disability rights, the upheaval in the State Senate, and my own plans for the future.
PBS is linking things strangely, so when you click to see the video of my interview the title will read Suffolk County Legislator Steve Levy - but don’t worry, it’s me.
STRANDED: How the TLC is Failing Wheelchair Users
June 7, 2009
Today, I released my report on how the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission is failing wheelchair users. I will post a more detailed summary of the report’s findings later this week, but for now, click the report cover to download the PDF of the report in full.
The release of the report was covered extensively in local media outlets, including in the New York Daily News article that I am posting below:
Stranded - Daily News Coverage
Two Kellner Bills Pass Assembly
May 13, 2009
If you haven’t noticed, the Bills section of this website has been updated to include all of my 2009 bills, and now that the budget has passed, I am very busy working on moving my legislative agenda forward. To that end, I was very pleased that two of my bills passed the Assembly, both unanimously, on Monday.
The first was passed as part of the Assembly’s annual observance of Legislative Disabilities Awareness Day, where we passed a comprehensive legislative package aimed at ensuring that people with disabilities receive the same opportunities that all New Yorkers expect and deserve. A.3954 would establish the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Riders’ Council for People with Disabilities to study and investigate all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and its subsidiaries, monitor its performance, and make recommendations to improve its operations with respect to people with disabilities.
One of the most important ways we can begin to address the lack of representation of people with disabilities is to make sure that people with disabilities are on the board of the MTA itself. In 2006, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer published “The State of Repairs: An Examination of Elevator and Escalator Maintenance and Repairs in New York City’s Subway System.” Stringer concluded that while the MTA does have the New York City Transit Riders Council, “they are not charged with the specific responsibly of representing the needs of disabled riders. And while the MTA has an ADA Compliance Coordination Committee, it is informal and not comprised of appointed members. A legislatively-mandated body representing disabled riders is needed to ensure the issues of the disability community are identified and addressed.” This is exactly what my bill will do. The bill now goes to the Senate where Senator Tom Duane is the lead sponsor.
The second bill that passed on Monday also touches on an issue close to my heart. A.3956 requires the State Office of the Aging to do an annual report to assess the needs of and delivery of services to traditionally underserved populations and to provide technical assistance to organizations that provide services to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) senior populations.
As our senior population continues to explode in number, it is incredibly important that we address the needs of marginalized communities as they age. LGBT seniors, in particular, often lack social and familial support networks that are more commonly available to non-LGBT seniors. LGBT seniors are twice as likely to live alone as compared to heterosexual seniors, and more than four times as likely to have no children. These seniors face stigma from many senior care providers who might not consider that their older clients may be LGBT. As a result, LGBT seniors may be as much as five times less likely to access needed health and social services because of fear of discrimination. Since disease prevention strategies tend to ignore LGBT seniors, and HIV trials generally do not include older participants, LGBT seniors may also face greater health risks. Additionally, same-sex couples have less access to financial benefits as compared to heterosexual married couples. A surviving same-sex partner, for example, will be denied social security benefits and be required to pay taxes on the transfer of assets upon the death of a partner. The bill now heads to the Senate, where Senator Tom Duane is the lead sponsor.
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