The need is clear, but the road to meeting it is blocked with red tape of the sort the New York City bureaucracy perfected more than a century ago.
That is the take of state politicians and advocates for the rights of disabled persons regarding MetroKing motors”™ handicapped accessible taxi, made in Poughkeepsie.
The vehicle has been certified as compliant for service as a wheelchair-accessible taxi by the state Department of Transportation and the three MetroKing taxis operating in Salt Point have received high marks.
But before MetroKing can sell any cab in to a New York fleet, the mecca for taxis, the Taxi and Limousine Commission must issue a clearance on its cab design. After receiving an application in January, the commission has not provided any official response. TLC spokesman and Deputy Commissioner Allan Fromberg did not return repeated phone calls seeking clarification of the matter and an explanation of the process that should be followed for cabs to be permitted in New York City.
“We”™ve been knocking our heads against the wall of the TLC for a long time,” said disabled advocate Anne Davis.
Davis, co-chairwoman of the New York City-based Taxis For All campaign, has spent the last 14 years-plus seeking to get the TLC to mandate sufficient numbers of wheelchair accessible taxis in New York.
Davis says that only 240 handicapped accessible taxis are available in New York City”™s fleet of some 13,000 yellow cabs. She contrasts that with the situation in London, England, where all the cabs are able to accommodate wheel chairs. (The website is taxisforall.org.)
“This seems like a no-brainer,” said Michael DiGonis, owner of MetroKing. “Everyone from local officials to top politicians say we need jobs and here I could put out 5,000 cabs a year and create a thousand jobs and no one is paying attention to meeting this great need.”
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The roomy MetroKing vehicle uses fold-away seating to provide for dual use, as a conventional taxi and as a taxi that could service people in wheelchairs. The chassis and drive train are made by GM, using a Colorado pick up truck without the back that is shipped to Poughkeepsie so the passenger compartment can be built and bolted on to the body. It has large doors that meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards for accessibility and a sturdy ramp that folds away under the vehicle when not needed.
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The completed cab vehicle is equipped with patented devices DiGonis invented that reduce gasoline use and tailpipe emissions and the chassis has a 100,000 mile GM warranty. “This is a vehicle designed and built to be a cab, so it is rugged enough for the job,” said DiGonis. ”˜And its dual use, so it can serve everyone.”
State Assemblyman Micah Kellner, who represents the 65th Assembly district in Manhattan, is familiar with MetroKing”™s unique patented design and said, “The vehicle is terrific.”
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Kellner has introduced legislation that would mandate that starting in 2011, any new taxi introduced onto the streets of a city in New York state whose population exceed 1million would be accessible to wheelchairs.
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He said in addition to being a basic civil rights issue, creating a fleet of wheelchair accessible taxis would save money spent on special fares for wheelchair transport that require ambulette-vans under the Accessible Ride program. The MTA is mandated to run the rides as a provision of the ADA.
Disabled persons pay $2.25 per accessible ride in the ambulette-vans, but “Contract costs are actually such that a ride really costs taxpayers closer to $60 a ride,” said Kellner. “So yes there is an incredible human need for this right now, and if you were able to allow people to take taxies instead of the Access-ride, estimates on savings range from $50 million to $150 million every year.”
“MetroKing is a great company and we expect it to be remarkably successful,” said John MacEnroe, president and CEO of the Dutchess County Development Corp. “We expect MetroKing to be a job-creation engine in this county, region and even statewide.”
MacEnroe said that DiGonis has spoken of partnering with BOCES technical schools to give jobs to workers as they graduate from those programs.
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MacEnroe said the development corporation is beginning to lobby on behalf of MetroKing and said he expects to meet with TLC officials in coming weeks, or perhaps early next year. “We believe ultimately TLC will approve this and the MetroKing cab will be the de facto standard cab in New York City, the same way the black cabs are the identifiable cabs in London.
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“Like the song says, if you can make it here you can make it anywhere,” said MacEnroe. “If it gets New York City certification, I can”™t imagine that Boston, San Francisco or D.C. would be far behind.”
Though the MetroKing accessible taxi is more expensive than a normal cab, there is a state program that rebates $10,000 for the purchase of an accessible cab, said Kellner.
“The major issue has been that the TLC has not promoted the idea of accessible taxi service and having the fleets buy accessible taxis,” said Kellner.
He said that Mayor Bloomberg has not made the creation of a wheelchair accessible taxi fleet a priority, but that were he to do so, the TLC would quickly stop dithering.
“It could be a real win-win-win,” Kellner said, adding that riders would get where they needed to get, taxpayers would save tens of millions of dollars and manufacturing jobs would be created in New York State.
“It will work out, its just going to be a little bit of time and a little bit of effort,” said DiGonis. “It is uncommon for any government agencies to say yes the first time.”
