New Wheelchair-Accessible Cabs Begin Rolling Onto Philadelphia's Streets
By Mike Dougherty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) today put into service the first of a new fleet of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs.
A Dodge Journey van was the first wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) to hit the road since 50 new WAV taxi medallions were sold by the PPA, which regulates taxicab service in Philadelphia.
Eleven more will be available in the coming weeks. The plan is to have at least 150 WAV taxis in service by 2021.
Matthew Clark, with Taxis For All Philadelphia, says this is a good start but there's still a long way to go.
"When we have 150 of these new medallions, that will be great. It will be a huge increase over seven (currently), but that's still less than eight percent (of all taxis)."
PPA executive director Vince Fenerty says the ultimate goal is to make all Philadelphia taxicabs wheelchair accessible.
"There would be bigger cabs, more comfortable for everyone. It should be accessibility for all," he said today.
Fenerty is asking for public support of a bill in Harrisburg that would require any taxis being retired from service to be replaced by WAV cabs.
