Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the words “than they pay on MetroAccess” to clarify the cost of the rollDC taxi ride trips.
The District has by far the most taxi cabs in the region but fewer than 1 percent are wheelchair-accessible, a smaller share than in most neighboring communities.
Now advocates are trying to keep those 20 wheelchair-accessible vehicles running in the city, even as funding for a three-year pilot program is slated to run out by December. They would like the number to grow eventually to 100 cabs, still just 1.5 percent of the city’s 6,500 licensed taxis.
The cabs’ popularity has grown steadily since the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board won a $1.3 million federal grant to buy the ramp-equipped minivans with $200,000 in matching funds from D.C., and other contributions from two cab companies. The taxis, dubbed rollDC, provide an average of about 400 trips to wheelchair users each month, said Wendy Klancher, who coordinates the program for the regional planning group. And 81 percent of respondents to a recent customer survey rated their trips excellent or very good.
| Wheelchair-accessible taxis around the region | |||
| Jurisdiction | Wheelchair cabs | Total taxi licenses | Percentage |
| District | 20 | 6,500 | 0.3% |
| Montgomery | 25 | 715 | 3.5% |
| Prince George’s | 10 | 775 | 1.3% |
| Arlington 29 | 765 | 3.8% | |
| Alexandria | 3 | 729 | 0.4% |
| Fairfax | 23 | 576 | 4.0% |
| Source: National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board | |||
“I’m surprised it’s gone as well as it has,” Klancher said.
Some wheelchair users can use regular cabs if they are able to move from a non-motorized chair that folds up, she said, but the special cabs help provide an option for those with motorized chairs or limited mobility.
They could use the Metro system’s MetroAccess service but those trips must be scheduled as much as a day in advance and often involve shared rides, meaning passengers may travel around the region to other stops before reaching their destinations. Visitors cannot use it as riders need to be certified to use the public transit system; a third of the rollDC users were visitors to the region.
Riders have been willing to pay higher fares on the rollDC cabs than on MetroAccess. About 36 percent of their trips were health-related, while 19 percent were for entertainment and 19 percent were work-related, according to the recent survey of riders.
Still, only about 7 percent of the trips those cabs provide are for wheelchair users, Klancher said. And when there is high demand for them, she said, riders may have to wait two to three hours for an available cab because there are so few.
The cabs cost more than other taxis even beyond the start-up costs. Each taxi costs as much as $15,000 to retrofit for wheelchairs, Klancher said. Then they require about $10,000 to $13,000 extra per year in subsidies on top of normal maintenance, Klancher said.
The subsidy covers extra maintenance needed on the vans. Driver are given an average of $4 for each wheelchair trip, an incentive to cover the lost time they spend loading passengers and strapping them in the chair. Drivers also get discounted leases for the wheelchair-accessible cabs.
