Taxis for All Campaign v. NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission is the case that refuses to go away. Settled by the Bloomberg Administration in 2014 and ratified by the DeBlasio Administration in 2015, the Agreement between several entities—including the Taxis For All Campaign (co-founded by United Spinal’s own Terry Moakley 25 years ago), United Spinal Association, Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, the 504 Democratic Club, and others—and the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) required 50% of yellow cabs to be accessible by 2020.
Four years after the deadline, only about 35% of currently operating cabs are accessible. Plaintiff groups, represented by Disability Rights Advocates and a pro bono team from Sheppard Mullen, prevailed on a motion to enforce the 50% agreement. No city in our country requires this much taxi access. In fact, most communities have no accessible taxis at all.
The TLC, the yellow cab industry, and the for-hire-vehicle industry fought the disability community for years to keep taxis inaccessible. For well over 11 of his 12 years in office, Mayor Bloomberg opposed access to taxis. During our difficult but successful struggle for an accessible taxi mandate, transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft were taking over the hail and dispatch markets. The yellow cabs fought back way too late, and the TLC stood by and watched NYC taxi medallion values plummet from $1 million dollars apiece to unsellable. The number of yellow cabs on the street went from 13,500 to just over 9,000.
In response to our motion to enforce the Agreement, which is like suing for breach of contract, the TLC made a motion to vacate the deal they had negotiated. They renegotiated with us in 2023 after the COVID-19 pandemic and the for-hire-vehicle industry had decimated the yellow cab business. The TLC lost its motion. Judge William B. Daniels, of Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, harshly criticized the TLC’s performance since entering the agreement in 2014: “the record simply reflects a lack of will and creativity.” He ordered that 100% of new taxis be accessible until 50% of all taxis are accessible. He also ordered the TLC to pay the plaintiffs’ attorneys fees for the enforcement action, since the TLC offered poor excuses for its breach of the agreement it negotiated.
The TLC has scheduled an agency hearing on a proposed new regulation that would require all new cabs to be accessible.
Judge Daniels compared the integration of wheelchair users into the mass of yellow cab users to Jackie Robinson integrating major league baseball in 1947. The judge was unlikely to allow the TLC to ignore its commitment to the disability community because it planned poorly and then whined to the court about the “impossibility” of keeping its word.
Progress happens in fits and starts. The Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 22 months. Taxi access has taken a generation of advocacy. We argued, way back in 1979, when we sued the MTA for bus and subway access, that if mass transit is vital to New Yorkers, then it is vital to New Yorkers with disabilities. It took a generation to accept our view as mainstream. Twenty years from now, when every taxi is accessible, and perhaps self-driven, no one will remember the controversy. Judge Daniels’ vision, plaintiffs’ lawyers’ will and creativity, and the tenacity of advocates with disabilities have made NY’s iconic yellow cabs accessible despite the procrastination and recalcitrance of City government.