As we leave behind June and LGBTQI+ Pride Month, we enter a lesser-known but equally important Pride Month, one that directly intersects with a vital service that TLC drivers provide. July is Disability Pride Month, which celebrates the history, achievements, and the passage of civil protections for Americans with disabilities.
According to the Mayor’s Officer for People with Disabilities (MOPD), almost a million New Yorkers have a disability, or about 11% of the city’s population. For many, an accessible TLC-licensed vehicle is not a convenience, but an absolute necessity. It can mean everything from being able to get to important appointments in a timely manner, to hitting the grocery store without having the journey turn into an hours-long ordeal. One of the main points of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which Disability Pride Month celebrates, is to ensure that people with disabilities have the exact same access to transportation as everyone else. If you are a driver or a base operator, that means access to you!
Our industry has made steady progress in accessibility. There are now more than 3,500 FHV WAVs on the road – the most ever – and over 30,000 FHV trips per month are requested and completed as WAVs. About half of all operating taxis are WAVs. Eighty percent of accessible Uber and Lyft rides are arriving in 15 minutes or less. There is still much more to be done, and TLC will continue to seek ways to improve accessibility.
This year’s theme is “Advancing Access and Equity,” and TLC will be out there in force raising awareness. On July 16, we will be at the Disability Unite Festival at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, and on July 21 our Mobile Outreach Unit (aka Van Hailin’) will be in front of Council Member Amanda Farias’s Office at 778 Castle Avenue in the Bronx. One of the items our External Affairs team will be handing out is this:
It’s a free, handy wheelchair accessible securement decal that you can place in your vehicle as a quick reference. Although all TLC drivers undergo WAV training as part of licensing, not all of us get regular practice, and this is something that came out of direct discussions with both accessibility advocates and drivers. It’s also available at our Woodside inspection facility, or you can just email our Education Unit at EducationUnit@tlc.nyc.gov and we’ll mail it to you.
See you out there!
