Don’t give Uber a license to discriminate

In 2014, federal Judge George B. Daniels signed off on an agreement to make New York City’s yellow taxi fleet wheelchair-accessible by 2020, calling it “one of the most significant acts of inclusion in this city since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.”

But just two years later, there are still for-hire vehicle companies in New York that exclude wheelchair users. With their discriminatory policies, they undermine this landmark victory and make it impossible to expand accessible service across the state.

The biggest culprit is Uber, which entered the New York City market to compete against yellow taxis and other taxi services in 2011. Incredibly, not one of Uber’s 30,000-plus vehicles in New York City is wheelchair-accessible.

That’s why disability advocates from New York City, Rochester, Troy and around the state are traveling to Albany on Tuesday. We and other wheelchair users are heading to the capital to make sure all legislators know the truth about Uber and other app-based companies that have invaded New York City and want the go-ahead to spread statewide.

Meanwhile, free of the rules yellow taxis must follow, Uber has recruited thousands of drivers to its ranks. Uber also dodges some of the costs yellow taxis must incur, including a 50-cent-per-ride surcharge from the MTA, costing the state tens of millions of dollars.

This is what the so-called Uber revolution looks like.

For wheelchair users like us, though, Uber and its cohorts look like they practice the same old-style discrimination we’ve encountered for decades. We wonder why anyone tolerates a company that purposely excludes a class of people protected from discrimination by U.S. law.

In New York City, Uber has disingenuously tried to cloud the issue by claiming its UberWAV feature provides wheelchair-accessible service. It doesn’t. Instead, it directs wheelchair users to accessible yellow or green cabs – the same vehicles Uber is trying to put out of business. And our own tests have shown that accessible taxis called through UberWAV often take 30 or 45 minutes to arrive, if they’re available at all.

Uber is not just undercutting accessible taxis in New York City – the company is now looking to expand to other cities and towns across the state. Like in Albany, where Capitaland Taxi already operates a handful of accessible taxis. Or Rochester, where drivers have won major economic concessions that would disappear if Uber takes over. And in Westchester and Nassau counties, where Uber hopes to operate without restraint so that it can cross the New York City border and poach what remains of the yellow and green taxi market.

Unfortunately, some elected officials are content to ignore Uber’s discrimination, tempted by the company’s false promises of jobs and more service in their communities. Even Gov. Andrew Cuomo, long a friend of accessible taxis, has indicated his interest in allowing Uber to operate statewide.

But Uber and its supporters have never explained why the company won’t serve people in wheelchairs. Nor have they explained why they endorse proposals that would wipe away decades of local control tailored for each community, and wipe out thousands of jobs as well.

There’s a real opportunity for the Legislature to fight for wheelchair users, and even a way to save money, by cutting the hundreds of millions now spent on the STAR paratransit service in Albany, Regional Transit Service Access in Rochester and Access-A-Ride in New York City, and transferring those rides to accessible taxis.

Before the Legislature even thinks about allowing Uber to operate statewide, it must require 100 percent wheelchair accessibility for Uber and all for-hire vehicles. Sound impossible? London’s had a fully accessible fleet starting in 1989.

It may take some ingenuity. It may take an initial investment of state money. It definitely will require legislators and mayors to buck the easy answers Uber and its cohorts claim to have.

Anything less will mean that state legislators have granted a license to discriminate. That’s something no one should tolerate.

Denise Figueroa is the executive director of the Independent Living Center of the Hudson Valley. Edith Prentiss is the chairwoman of the Taxis For All Campaign in New York City.