A so-called Taxi of Tomorrow being wheeled out by the Taxi and Limousine Commission is riddled with embarrassing and potentially dangerous design flubs, two advocacy groups charged on Wednesday.
Wheelchair-bound passengers riding in new Nissan NV200 mobility taxis, expected to be in wide use by 2020, face a whopping 13 safety challenges, including perilous rear-entry ramps and tight back-seat space, safety advocates warned in a letter Wednesday to the de Blasio administration.
“Pushing a wheelchair up the ramp in traffic is awkward, dangerous and embarrassing,” states the letter, signed by the United Spinal Association and the Committee for Taxi Safety and addressed to TLC Chairwoman Meera Joshi.
But Nissan’s partner in producing the wheelchair-accessible version of the NV200 says such criticism is unfair and unfounded. The cab meets federal standards and the ramp design is not only safe but most practical in the city.
Advocates want the TLC to revisit a contract between Nissan and the city in a bid to outfit the van with safer side ramps, officials said. Currently, the contract calls for Nissan to manufacture 80% of the city’s fleet of approximately 13,300 yellow cabs.
About 700 NV200s are in use, including about five of the wheelchair-accessible models, TLC spokesman Allan Fromberg told the Daily News.
Other design flaws include inadequate storage space in the rear and an overly complex boarding process that requires as many as 20 steps to secure wheelchair-bound passengers, the activists say.
“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” said James Weisman, a lawyer for the United Spinal Association.
The city most recently set April 20 as the date after which most cab owners would be required to buy the Nissan model upon retiring their old cabs. But the state Court of Appeals last month blocked the directive while a lawsuit filed by an association of medallion owners is pending in court.
The advocacy groups will hold a press conference outside City Hall Thursday.
The NV200 is made wheelchair-accessible by BraunAbility, an engineering and manufacturing company based in Indiana. The rear-entry ramp makes sense in Manhattan because of the large number of one-way streets, the company said. A wheelchair user can access the cab from either the right or left side of the street more easily. Side-entry cabs have ramps on the right side which can require a wheelchair user to cross the street and traffic, the company said.
