Wheelchair-Accessible Taxi Dispatch Program Expanding Citywide

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An accessible taxi dispatch program is expanding citywide, giving those with disabilities greater access to wheelchair-accessible taxis.

As WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported, Jean Ryan said finding a wheelchair-accessible taxi in her Bay Ridge, Brooklyn neighborhood is like an Elvis sighting.

"You just could not get one," she said. "I mean, who sees a yellow cab or an accessible green cab in the neighborhood that they know they could take at a certain time?"

Ryan calls the expansion of the accessible dispatch program a game changer. During the pilot phase of the program, Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Meera Joshi says wait times have gone down – even for the disabled – in remote areas of the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.

The challenge now is expanding the number of cabs that could accommodate a wheelchair.