Find your ideal Mobility Product With just a few short questions we'll help you to narrow the field and find the mobility product that's right for you. Take Your Custom Wheelchair to the Next Level From inception to reality, every design that goes through Built-4-Me is hand crafted to enhance your independence, individuality, and ride experience.The taxi industry, already grumbling about the city's mandate that half of all yellow cabs be wheelchair accessible by 2020, has a new complaint: The Taxi & Limousine Commission has sped up the conversion schedule—even though the ramp-equipped cars they must buy are not available. Cabs have a designated life expectancy of anywhere from three to seven years. Medallion owners are upset that cars that have a retirement date of 2018, for instance—but need to come off the road now because they keep breaking down—must be replaced with a wheelchair-accessible model. And the owners are blowing a gasket because Nissan, which won the contract to supply city cabs, hasn't produced enough of its NV200 accessible vehicles to meet the increased demand.
According to one fleet owner, who declined to be named, Nissan is telling the taxi industry that it will not have a consistent supply of the model until next February. Meanwhile, the owner has medallions that are sitting idle because they've been designated for accessible vehicles ahead of their retirement date, and none can be found. Medallion owners can apply for a waiver to use one of a handful of other models, but the only one they consider acceptable—the Toyota Sienna—is also unavailable, taxi insiders say. The TLC responds that it is aware of the issue and is in discussions with Nissan about solving the problem. But the agency says that it is following the rules exactly as they were published and that the retirement schedule was not sped up. "We do think there’s been some selective misreading of history here," said Christopher Wilson, the TLC’s general counsel. A TLC spokesman said the commission is working with taxi owners."We are issuing appropriate extensions to all owners who are specifically affected," the spokesman wrote in an email.
The fleet owner said the extension did him no good because it was for cars that are no longer reliable. He described it as a chance to throw good money after bad. In other cases, "medallions may already be in storage, so there is no vehicle retirement to extend," noted David Beier, president of the Committee for Taxi Safety, an industry advocacy group. "Unless the TLC allows us to put and keep a nonaccessible vehicle on the road until that car's retirement date, extensions will not help." According to Beier, the rules for independent medallions—which are owned singly and make up about 40% of the fleet—call for lotteries to be held in the year before cars are due to be retired. But instead of waiting until 2017, for example, to hold a lottery for cabs due to retire in 2018—half of which would end up converting to wheelchair-accessible models—the TLC held lotteries for all of them starting in 2015 and concluding in January 2016. The medallions that were chosen to convert must do so whenever their cars come off the road, regardless of their retirement schedule.
That means cabs that go out of service because of maintenance issues or an accident must be replaced at once with accessible models. Wilson, the TLC’s general counsel, says no one should have been taken by surprise: the lotteries determined which medallions would be designated for wheelchair vehicles. The non-accessible cars they were attached to would not have to convert as long as they stayed in service. “People whose vehicles don’t conk out can keep them on the road, but it was always the case that if you went out of service earlier your accessibility commitment might kick in earlier,” Wilson said.In fact, Beier and the agency have been debating the rules since the fall of 2015, according to a Dec. 2 letter written by the TLC that was obtained by Crain's. Beier said that the shortage stems from the TLC "changing the interpretation of its rules" regarding vehicle retirement for independent medallions. "Nissan did a very limited production run, based on what they believed was going to be the need for vehicles, which was premised on the retirement dates,” he told Crain's.
“And now, all of a sudden, there's this great need for them."A Nissan spokesman acknowledged a shortage, saying, "Sales of wheelchair-accessible taxis have been strong," with close to 200 put into service in 2016. "The strong demand has challenged availability of the wheelchair-accessible taxi, but we are working to address this with our conversion partner, Braun, and the TLC," he said, referring to the company that retrofits the standard "Taxi of Tomorrow" NV200s to accommodate wheelchairs. Wheelchair accessibility has been a sore point with the industry, which is struggling to win back drivers from Uber, Lyft and other app-based vehicle services. Fleet and medallion owners object to the tech-savvy rivals having no accessibility requirements for their own cars. The services connect wheelchair users to accessible vehicles offered by other providers, including taxis. Cabdrivers receive added fees to pick up wheelchair passengers and can earn several thousand dollars more a year, according to the TLC.
But the vehicles still are not popular with many drivers, who believe their heavier weight adds to maintenance issues and higher gas costs. Some drivers also worry about losing money by spending time loading and unloading a wheelchair. Beier estimates that as many as 500 medallions could be idle by the end of the year as a result of the shortage of vehicles. That would represent about 3.5% of yellow cabs.Purchasing a new or used vehicle can be pretty challenging. Finding the right car, the best price and dealing with financing is never easy. When looking for a wheelchair accessible vehicle it gets a lot more complicated. Once you’ve learned what you need to know about accessible vans You need to find the best place to buy one.Here is our list of 10 great companies and organizations that can help you find the right accessible van for you and your family. NMEDA is a non-profit trade association of mobility equipment dealers, manufacturers, driver rehabilitation specialists and other professionals dedicated to expanding opportunities for people with disabilities to drive or be transported in vehicles modified with mobility equipment.
All members work together to improve transportation options of people with disabilities. Rollx Vans is a family owned company that sells new and previously owned minivans and full-size vans directly to you. If you choose, your finished van can be delivered directly to your door. Rollx converts Daimler Chrysler minivans, the Honda Odyssey, Volkswagen Routan, and the Ford Econoline full-sized van. They also offer a wide variety of used vans with over 200 wheelchair accessible vans in stock at all times. General Motors has developed certain vehicle components to facilitate the adaptive equipment installation process and help maintain the integrity of the vehicle’s engineering, quality and safety standards during that process. With over 80 independent handicap van dealers nationwide, The Mobility Resource is one of the largest adaptive driving networks in the U.S. featuring the largest online inventory of handicap accessible vehicles. Freedom Motors, Inc. (FMI) has been converting vehicles to wheelchair accessibility for over twenty years.
FMI will bring any handicap van or wheelchair accessible car, SUV mobility conversions directly to your home, anywhere in the country, for a free, no obligation, at home product demonstration Ride-Away is one of the America’s largest providers of wheelchair vans, vehicle modifications, and adaptive equipment including hand controls, wheelchair and scooter lifts, ramps, raised doors, lowered floors and specialized gas, brake and steering controls. Over 350 accessible vehicles, from manufacturers such as Braun and Viewpoint, are in stock throughout 11 East Coast locations. The mission of AMS Vans is to offer wheelchair conversion vans that provide families with special needs an affordable solution to enhance their lives dramatically. AMS Vans makes quality, safety, and customer satisfaction priorities in all new and used wheelchair accessible vans for sale. The CMG team has over thirty years experience with certified mobility consultants and technicians that continuously maintain ethical conduct and standards.
CMG provides accessible vans—rear-entry and side-entry lowered floor minivans, full-size conversion vans, and para-transit vehicles, as well as vehicle modifications such as hand controls, left-foot accelerators, wheelchair securement systems, scooter and power-chair hoists. BraunAbility offers more than 40 years of experience at providing a full line of mobility products to individuals and families of all needs. Whether you purchased a new handicap van, a used handicap van, or a van that’s equipped with a BraunAbility wheelchair lift, Braunability wants your mobility product to provide the best possible (and most hassle-free) experience. Vantage Mobility International has the mobility products, equipment, and accessories that make life more accessible for those with disabilities. Whether you are searching for a full-size wheelchair accessible van with a lift or a lowered floor accessible minivan, VMI have the expertise and manufacturing capacity to exceed customer expectations.