If Mayor Bloomberg really wants his plan to make it legal for livery cabs to pick up street hails to make it out of Albany, the TLC may finally have to do something about its horrendous treatment of the handicapped. Back in June the Mayor's plan got the go-ahead and just needed Andrew Cuomo's stamp. But now it seems the Gov is witholding approval unless the additional 1,500 highly-lucrative taxi medallions that would come with the bill are all required to be handicap-accessible.
Right now there are 232 handicap-accessible cabs in the city's 13,000 car fleet. The bill before Cuomo would add another 1,500 medallions, 569 of which would be handicap-accessible. Reportedly, Cuomo is now pushing his weight around to assure that all 1,500 of those medallions would be for handicap-accessible cabs only. And yes, even though you see it everyday, it is illegal to hail a livery cab from the street.
The push from team Cuomo comes as the TLC awaits a judge's decision regarding claims that New York City cabs discriminate against the handicapped. Though the States Attorney agrees they do, the TLC claims it has "no obligation" to serve the handicapped at all (since it actually only deals with drivers, not passengers).
Mayor Bloomberg's people say they are talking through the deal, which could bring hundreds of millions in revenue to the city, with Albany. Meanwhile Assemblyman Micah Kellner argues to the News that, "I think we’ve gotten to the point where everyone agrees that all new yellow cab medallions be wheelchair accessible." Well, almost everyone!
