Forget about getting around New York City if you're in a wheelchair. About two percent of more than 13,000 yellow cabs are accessible. (Compare us to London, where every taxi can handle wheelchairs.)

What's holding New York up?

The taxi industry is resisting accessible cabs - just like the auto industry resisted seat belts, airbags and higher fuel economy. But the City regulates 100% of the taxi industry. So it's time for a mandated, gradual conversion to accessible vehicles for the entire fleet. Otherwise, 49 out of every 50 yellow cabs in the fleet will remain out of reach for most wheelchair users.

It is curious that America is normally considered to be the bastion of deregulation. People look at the banking industry in America and how that is only loosely regulated and imagine that the same ethos of letting the ‘market decide’ and unfettering commercial interests from bureaucracy must exist in other sectors of the economy. Well it does, but not in the case of the taxi industry in New York. In this case, the State of New York imposes strict regulations on taxi drivers and taxi firms. These regulations are designed to protect the customer but sometimes they force the drivers’ salaries below the minimum wage. Moreover, the authorities of New York refuse to make wheel chair access mandatory for new taxis.

Taxis in New York City transport 240 million people a year, making up 25% of all the transport in the city. The Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) set regulations concerning nearly all aspects of the taxi business. The TLC sets fares, issues licenses, imposes fines etc. At the same time most taxi drivers are classified as independent contractors and are thus not protected by employment laws.

There are four types of taxi in New York: yellow cabs, livery cabs, dollar vans and black cars. Yellow cabs dominate midtown and down town. There are 13,000 yellow cabs in operation and about 25,000 drivers. The drivers either rent their cab from a corporate garage, own their vehicle or rent from another driver to do a second shift. There are serious financial and regulatory impediments to owning one’s own yellow cab. Not the least of which are that many drivers are illegal immigrants.

Livery cabs dominate uptown Manhattan. These cabs are on a phone call hire basis only. Drivers get a weekly fee. Again many drivers rent out their livery cabs for a second shift. There are about 30,000 livery cabs in service.

Dollar vans are larger vehicles that cater for people in outlying districts and boroughs. The TLC has licensed 85 dollar vans but many more operate without licenses. Most drivers of dollar vans work independently and foot all the costs associated with their business.

Black cars provide business class services to Wall Street companies. There are about 12,000 black car drivers. Fares are often paid by vouchers issued by companies.

The margins are very tight for most taxi drivers. Increasingly drivers are legal and illegal immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Dominican Republic and Haiti as well as other countries. The drivers have little cash behind them and so find it next to impossible to save enough to buy their own cab.

Yellow Cab drivers after subtracting costs such as rental, gas and maintenance make between $400 and $500 a week (2004 figures). At slow times yellow taxi drivers can make as little as $22 a day.

Livery cab drivers have large insurance premiums to pay. In 2004 the average annual salary for a livery cab driver was $20,000. Dollar van drivers have a large income but high overheads and make roughly the same as livery cab drivers.

On average drivers work 12 to 16 hours a day. They cannot raise fares ? they must apply to the TLC to do so. When fuel prices go up the TLC has rejected most applications for fare increases. This means the drivers’ net salaries go down.

On top of this, drivers because of their independent contractor status receive no medical, employment or pension benefits. Factoring this in to the above figures it is clear to see that New York taxi drivers are some of the worst paid workers in New York - indeed their salaries often fall below the minimum wage.

Looking at the issue of wheelchair access for the disabled to use taxis it is clear that the financial burden for refits cannot fall on the drivers themselves. At present only 2% of yellow cabs have wheel chair access. This is not going to change unless the TLC approaches the financial entities that do make money from the taxi industry in New York. These are the corporate garages that rent out cabs to the drivers.

Another solution is to introduce subsidies or low interest loans either directly to the drivers or to the owners of the taxis. At the same time set a deadline for the conversion of all cabs to full access for the disabled. The owners that fail to comply could have their licenses revoked.

It is clear that the money has to come from somewhere to make cabs and especially yellow cabs accessible to the handicapped in wheelchairs. It is equally clear that most of the drivers themselves are victims of an unfair system and do not have the financial resources to foot the bill for conversions.