In a city full of fast moving people, uneven sidewalks, and (ugh) walkups, I have often wondered how disabled people get around. I always find myself in the Union Square station, staring at the one elevator that smells so much like homeless urine that I would rather slide down a banister covered in razor blades, thinking about how the city isn’t built for the disabled.
While they may have not planned New York for people in wheelchairs (if, in fact they planned it at all, which I sometimes question), but Accessible Dispatch is a new program designed to remedy the problem.
There are 13,000 yellow cabs in Nyc and only 233 are wheelchair accessible. Accessible Dispatch solves the problem of connecting the disabled with the cabs that can comfortably transport them.
The program allows disabled people to order taxis via phone, text, online, or through an app so that no matter where they are, one of the 233 wheelchair-friendly cabs can be dispatched to their location.
In a city that that can seem so unyielding, this is definitely a step, or shall I say roll, in the right direction.
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