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A new report flags how the shortfall of wheelchair-accessible vehicles from the app-based ride-hailing giants subjects New Yorkers with disabilities to longer wait times.
The “Left Behind Across New York” report from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest notes that just 7% of nearly 106,000 for-hire vehicles licensed by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission are wheelchair accessible — a figure they say highlights disparities faced by customers with limited mobility who book rides through Uber and Lyft.
“It honestly feels disrespectful,” said Stefan Henry, a quadriplegic customer who uses a large powered wheelchair. “It just feels like they don't think that people with disabilities need to go to work.”
Meanwhile, the city’s yellow taxi fleet last summer met a years-overdue legal mandate to make 50% of the in-service cabs wheelchair-accessible by equipping vehicles with ramps. It came years after the city blew a 2020 deadline that came about as part of a landmark settlement of a class-action lawsuit approved in 2014.
TLC data shows that of the 10,694 licensed yellow taxis in service in November, 56% were wheelchair accessible.
“There have been some gains after years of litigation and settlements in wheelchair accessibility in the New York City taxi fleet,” said Justin Wood, NYLPI’s director of policy and author of the report. “But we have not seen the same commitment from these giant and much more profitable corporations.”
Read more here about the long, slow slog to make the city more accessible.
Weather 🌤️
Cloudy then mostly sunny, with a high near 46.
MTA 🚇
In Queens, there are no Flushing-bound 7 trains at the 103 St.-Corona Plaza station. Find all the MTA’s planned changes and the latest delays here.
Alternate side parking 🚙
It’s suspended today, Feb. 17, due to the Lunar New Year.
By the way…
Alternate side parking rules are suspended through Wednesday this week because of four events: Presidents’ Day, Lunar New Year, Ash Wednesday and Tibetan New Year.
Our Other Top Stories
Despite Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s public calls on her not to do so, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz charged Jabez Chakraborty with attempted assault on Friday. Chakraborty was arraigned from the hospital bed where he’s recovering after NYPD officers responding to a 911 call from his sister asking for him to be taken to a hospital for an evaluation during a schizophrenic episode shot the 22-year-old as he approached them with scissors in his hand.
Ingrid, a 37-year-old mother from Honduras went to 26 Federal Plaza for a routine December check-in — only to end up spending the holidays imprisoned in hotel rooms with her eight-year-old son and four-year-old American citizen daughter awaiting deportation. After a judge ordered her release, the frightened family returned to the scene of their arrest last week.
A long-derelict state-owned building at 1024 Fulton St. in Clinton Hill, which THE CITY has reported on for years, may finally be headed for rebirth after nearly half a century of vacancy, political detours and collapsed redevelopment plans.
Can a new administration find new ways to get people off of the streets, a question that’s bedeviled mayor after mayor? Brian Stettin, the senior advisor on severe mental illness for the mayor’s office in the Adams administration who departed when Mamdani eliminated that position, joins the FAQ NYC podcast for an exit interview digging into that and much more .
Things To Do
Here are some free and low-cost things going on around the city this week.
Tuesday, Feb. 17: Attend the annual fireworks ceremony for the Lunar New Year with traditional dances at Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Free, 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 17: The Rev. James Lawson Jr., a storied civil rights leader, discusses his new memoir, “Nonviolent,” in a talk with his son John, his book collaborator Emily Yellin and journalist Trymaine Lee. In the Celeste Auditorium inside the New York Public Library’s flagship Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Free, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 18: Food studies expert Marion Nestle discusses her new book, “What to Eat Now,” about navigating the American supermarket. Free, 6:30 p.m. at the National Arts Club. Register here.
THE KICKER: New Knicks guard Jose Alvarado is a Queens kid, who’s back home after playing basketball for Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Make it a great Tuesday.
Love,
THE CITY
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