The city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission today launched its dispatch system for disabled riders to get door-to-door wheelchair-accessible taxis.
Disabled riders looking for yellow cab service can now call 311 and ask for a wheelchair accessible cab to be sent to any destination in Manhattan, officials said.
In addition, the riders can also download the free “Wheels on Wheels” app, order online, or text or call the dispatch agency directly.
All of the city’s 233 accessible cabs will have monitoring software inside from the dispatcher, which will alert them when a nearby disabled passenger needs to be picked up.
If the closest cab doesn’t accept the call within two minutes, the system alerts the next closest cab, and so on until one agrees to take the trip.
To make sure that cabs then take a street hail en route to pick up the disabled passengers, the driver will be paid up to $15 a mile for travel time out of a fund.
That fund is paid for through fees that all medallion owners pay annually.
“This is a critical turning point between unacceptable service [for passengers in wheelchairs] and service that is acceptable and getting where it needs to be,” said TLC Commission David Yassky.
But because there is not enough wheelchair-accessible cabs to keep up with demand, he said he expects riders using the service to face waits of up to 30 minutes.
“I don’t want to make claims that it’s perfect,” he said.
The city had planned to sell 2,000 wheelchair accessible taxicab medallions to boost the number, but was forced to nix the sale after losing a lawsuit brought about by medallion owners.
The owners sued to stop a separate plan to add a special fleet of livery cabs that would only accept street hails in the outer boroughs, a right that only yellow cabs have.
The sale of the accessible medallion was tied to the legislation that granted the outer borough street hail permit, so the city had to nix both sales.