Carone continues call for better wheelchair accessibility in taxicabs
Frank Carone, executive partner at Abrams Fensterman, has renewed his call for 100 percent wheelchair accessibility in all New York City taxis and said that something has to be done to force for-hire companies, like Uber and Lyft, to help in this effort.
In 2011 there were just 231 wheelchair-accessible cabs in New York City. Today, there are more than 1,700. The difference, in part, was a regulation that Carone helped to pass while he was with the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission that created a 30-cent surcharge for all taxi rides. Now that Uber and Lyft have become popular there is nothing compelling these companies to provide for the disabled.
“At the time that we were able to approve a 30-cent surcharge per ride to pay to get yellow and green cabs ADA complaint there was no phenomenon known as ride-sharing, Uber or Lyft,” Carone said. “That has then totally changed the landscape of for-hire services through the city of New York.”