Taxis, rideshares under scrutiny in Georgia for wheelchair access

ATLANTA – Finding a ride in a pinch is a luxury that state Rep. Rusty Kidd hasn’t had in 16 years, which is how long the Georgia lawmaker has used an electric wheelchair.

It can take a day or longer to schedule a ride through public transportation.

And while there’s a chance a taxicab might be available that can accommodate his 414-pound wheelchair, he says using his smartphone to summon a driver through the popular rideshare services is out of the question in Georgia.

“Yeah, I can call MARTA today, and schedule them to come pick me up this Wednesday or Thursday,” said Kidd, who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident.

“But I can’t call them right now and say, ‘Hey, can you come pick me up and take me to the airport in the next 30 minutes?’”

The legislator from middle Georgia wants taxicabs and rideshare companies to put vehicles in circulation that are capable of loading wheelchairs.

He wants the companies to have at least one wheelchair-accessible vehicle for every 30 cars in its fleet. Or, in the case of services like Uber and Lyft, they would be required to have one driver out of every 30 whose personal vehicle is equipped to handle wheelchairs.

Lyft, for one, instructs drivers to accommodate customers with wheelchairs, then to help find an alternative if it doesn’t fit into the vehicle. Uber, whose drivers can accommodate folding wheelchairs, has pilot programs aimed at serving customers with special needs in several major cities.

But Kidd said it does not have any drivers with wheelchair-accessible vehicles in Georgia.

Kidd said rideshare companies should step up, so that the burden of customers with special needs doesn’t fall to cab companies.

“We appreciate Rep. Kidd’s attention to this important issue, and look forward to continue working with him to explore expanded options and access to those with mobility challenges,” an Uber spokesman, Bill Gibbons, said in statement. The services say their drivers are independent contractors who set their own schedules.

The cab industry, meanwhile, flatly opposes the mandate.

“It’s a hard thing to ask, especially of the taxi industry right now, when they’re already abiding by so much regulation, and their businesses are being kicked in the stomach by an unfair competitor,” said John Boit, spokesman for the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association, referring to Uber.

Rick Hewatt, president of Checker Cab Co. in Atlanta, said cab companies will “fight it tooth and claw because we just can’t afford it.”

His company already meets the proposed requirement. Of 140 cabs in his fleet, five are wheelchair accessible.

But he said the struggling cab industry, which is losing a steady stream of customers to the rideshare services, can’t handle more regulation, and there isn’t enough demand to support the requirement.

Hewatt said wheelchair-accessible vans can be at least three times more expensive to own and run than regular cabs. His drivers, wary of the additional hassle, lease the vans at a discount.

Meanwhile, in spite of his effort to promote the service, Hewatt said his vans only carry riders with wheelchairs about 2 percent of the time.

There were an estimated 651,000 people with an ambulatory disability in Georgia as of 2013, the most recent year for which data were available.

Hewatt said he’d rather see lawmakers and members of the disability community find ways to help pay for the service.

“People are led by the carrot better that the stick,” he said. “Mandating something like that without any funding to fund it just doesn’t work.”

The mandate, Kidd said, is a last resort. He just wants the problem addressed.

“You should be able to provide a service to all people instead of just a limited number,” he said Friday.

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.