Getting a cab in Washington, D.C. at the end of next year’s midyear meeting may be a little easier now.
ACB has reached an agreement with four D.C. cab companies — Yellow Cab Company of D.C., Inc., Grand Cab Company, Elite Cab Association, and Pleasant Taxi Club LLC — to carry out an Accessibility Initiative to ensure that blind and visually impaired individuals accompanied by service animals have full and equal access to taxi services in the District of Columbia, including street-hailed taxicab services.
As part of the initiative, these cab companies have agreed to collaborate with ACB and contribute to a testing fund that ACB will administer. ACB will monitor learning, education effectiveness, and compliance by associated drivers with their legal obligations to provide street-hail taxicab services in D.C. Contributions to the Accessibility Initiative will be used to fund this monitoring and a third-party testing program to ensure that blind and visually impaired individuals with service animals are successfully able to hail taxis on D.C. streets. Those contributing to the testing fund and agreeing to the initiative will be notified of any complaints and given feedback on their drivers’ performance. The initiative also protects signatory drivers and taxicab companies with a commitment to resolve complaints against participating taxicabs without formal litigation.
All four companies have agreed to develop and implement a model Non-Discrimination Policy that accompanies the Accessibility Initiative. The initiative requires each signatory to incorporate such a policy into its association licensing agreements with its drivers when signing new drivers or renewing agreements, and to distribute the policy to all existing drivers. The policy will make it clear that a driver may not assume that an animal accompanying a passenger is not a service animal. All drivers who do not have a valid medical exemption will be required to stop to provide service to a passenger accompanied by a dog and hailing a taxi, or inquire whether the dog is a service animal where not obvious. The policy also specifies that the cab company will promptly investigate any complaints it receives regarding any discriminatory conduct by its associated drivers, and discipline any driver who is proven to have violated the policy. Such discipline will include training of the driver on the Non-Discrimination Policy, suspension, reporting the driver to the D.C. Taxicab Commission (“DCTC”), and terminating the driver’s association with the company.
Additionally, in a joint letter, the cab companies recommended changes to DCTC policies and rules to promote and safely provide street-hail taxi services in D.C. to the visually impaired. DCTC will now provide disability sensitivity training to new and renewing cab drivers, and has implemented a disability sensitivity training module.
“We are encouraged that these four taxi companies are willing to work with us to promote equal access to taxicab services in the District of Columbia,” stated Eric Bridges, ACB’s executive director. “We hope that other cab companies in the District will join this Accessibility Initiative and contribute to the testing fund in order to become the gold standard for taxi service in D.C., including street-hailed taxis.”
Matthew Handley, Director of Litigation at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, said: “Public transportation, including taxi services, should be available and accessible to everyone, including persons with disabilities who use service dogs. We are pleased that we were able to come together to implement this Accessibility Initiative in the District of Columbia. We are also pleased with the jointly recommended changes to the Taxi Commission’s policies and regulations, which will apply to all D.C. taxicab companies and set the standard for equal access.”
Matthew MacLean, partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, added: “Launching the Accessibility Initiative through the American Council of the Blind is a great accomplishment. This program has the tools to create meaningful change in the accessibility policies of taxicab providers in D.C., and is an opportunity for companies to engage in a constructive program to ensure the rights of taxi passengers relying on service animals are understood and respected.”