According to a recent report, the number of wheelchair-accessible vehicles for hire in San Francisco fell significantly in the past few years — all while services like Uber and Lyft were rapidly expanding in the area.
“This is more urgent than people realize,” Carol Tyson, policy director for the United Spinal Association, told The Huffington Post.
Tyson, the author of a MobilityLab.org post about this issue, sits on the Disability Advisory Committee for the District of Columbia Taxicab Commission. That group’s report, published in October, said that San Francisco’s wheelchair-friendly cabs dropped from 100 in 2013 to just 64 in 2015.
While Uber has introduced limited offerings for passengers with disabilities in some cities, it and other on-demand car services don’t currently operate under the same accessibility rules that cab companies do. There’s no mandate for Uber, Lyft or similar startups to include wheelchair-ready cars in their fleets. What’s more, the potential for on-demand startups to drive taxi companies into bankruptcy is no longer theoretical: More than 1 million Uber drivers now handle 2 million rides every day around the world.
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Curated by Lifekludger read full article at Source: If Uber Kills Cabs, Cities Must Ensure Accessible Vehicles Live
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