The TLC is overcharging medallion owners for a program that lets handicapped passengers request an accessible cab using 311, a taxi kingpin claims in a class-action lawsuit filed Friday.
The program, which began last year and is run by Metro Taxi, a Connecticut-based company, charged medallion owners a $98 fee per medallion in its first year—and $54 each this year.
In the suit, Gene Freidman — who owns the majority of handicapped-accessible cabs in the city — says the program could be run for far less money, due to his experience running dispatch programs in cities like New Orleans and Philadelphia, and that the TLC has not been transparent in their expenses.
The fee is used to cover costs including reimbursing drivers when they travel empty to pick up a disabled passenger. It also covers administrative and tech costs of the program, the Taxi and Limousine Commission said.
An agency source said it has been open in budgeting the program’s costs.
TLC Commissioner David Yassky blasted the lawsuit. “The facts speak for themselves, and we’re confident that this attempt to derail a successful program that offers wheelchair users convenient access to taxicabs will fail,” he said.
Alan T. Brown, a quadriplegic who is a director at the Christopher Reeve Foundation, said he constantly uses the program and hopes the lawsuit won’t jeopardize it.
“I was never able to get into a taxi,” he said. “I don’t think you can put on a price tag when somebody has to live with a permanent disability and you can give them a better quality of life.”
But Joe Rappaport, a spokesman for the Taxis for All Campaign, said the program has been flawed, and passengers in wheelchairs should be able to hail any cab, rather than use a dispatch.