Taxi medallion owners facing a new deadline for making their vehicles wheelchair accessible by next March say conversion costs could take cabbies off the road.Drivers and taxi industry workers pushed back at a Taxi & Limousine Commission hearing on Thursday following a federal judge’s August order that all new yellow taxis must be wheelchair accessible. They say they want the city to cough up more cash to help meet the repeatedly blown 50%-of-the-fleet mandate from a decade-old lawsuit settlement. The December 2013 agreement — which United States District Court Judge George Daniels hailed at the time as “one of the most significant acts of inclusion since Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers” — called for half of the city’s 13,587 medallion cabs to be wheelchair accessible by 2020. The city missed that mark, along with a 2023 extension, leading Daniels in August to flag the TLC for failing to deliver “anything close to substantial performance” — and order that half of all active taxis be wheelchair accessible by March 31, 2025. But medallion owners and advocates for taxi drivers called on the city to provide more money for the conversion of non-accessible vehicles and to keep hardship extensions that allow taxis to stay on the road beyond seven years as long as all inspections are passed.“The TLC is trying to use an iron fist to force drivers to convert,” Bhairavi Desai, president of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, told THE CITY. “What it’s going to do is lead to bankruptcies.”New York Taxi Workers Alliance founder and director Bhairavi Desai testifies remotely outside City Hall at a hearing about requiring medallion owners to make their cabs wheelchair accessible, Oct. 10, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITYWithout the hardship extensions or more funding, the taxi workers alliance warned of cabbies having to spend up to $80,000 to buy and convert new wheelchair accessible vehicles.“We don’t have enough work to pay for all these expenses,” medallion owner Wain Chin testified from a NYTWA rally outside of City Hall. “You have to wake up, [the] city has to wake up.”David Do, chairperson and commissioner of the TLC, told the medallion owners and drivers the city was “ultimately, not successful” in trying to convince Daniels that “a little bit more time” was necessary to meet the 50% mark.“This is something that we worked on with the court to advocate for many of our drivers,” Do said. “We told your stories and we were not successful in federal court.”‘This Is a Public Good’The landmark settlement came at a time when there were just 231 wheelchair-accessible taxis registered with the TLC — or less than 2% of the fleet — leading to a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of New Yorkers with disabilities. According to the TLC, 3,994 wheelchair-accessible taxis are now in service, accounting for nearly 43% of the 9,309 taxis currently on the road.After the settlement, the TLC created the Taxicab Improvement Fund to help drivers with the costs of making their vehicles wheelchair accessible. Between 2015 and 2023, the TLC said the fund has distributed more than $235 million to assist with conversion costs, including an initial $14,000 payment.Do said TLC will study ways to provide more upfront funding for drivers from the fund.“That is what we are going to take a look at to help,” he said. “But that means that there is going to have to be some [Taxicab Improvement Fund] changes overall.”Dorothy LeConte, an owner-driver who has worked in the taxi business for nearly 40 years, told TLC officials that she could be out of business in a year without a hardship extension or money beyond the $14,000 to make her taxi wheelchair accessible.Taxi medallion owner Naider Henry speaks outside City Hall about the economic impact of being required to make his cab wheelchair accessible, Oct. 10, 2024. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY“I need to go out there to work daily to make my daily bread,” she said. “So another bill on top of my medallion bill, I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it.”Medallion owners and taxi drivers emphasized that they are not opposed to making more taxis wheelchair accessible, with advocates for New Yorkers with disabilities adding that the city must live up to the long-ago settlement.“This is a public good if taxis are made accessible,” said Joseph Rappaport, executive director of Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled. “If the city can’t come up with enough money from the [Taxi Improvement Fund] surcharge, it needs to come up with another source of funding.”The federal judge’s August ruling followed a May hearing at which he scolded the city for repeatedly falling short of meeting deadlines.“This is what you promised to do,” Daniels said at the time. 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