Lyft under fire on how to welcome people in wheelchairs

If Harriet Lowell wants to travel more than a few blocks, she usually has to plan well in advance. This is because she is disabled and she uses a motorized wheelchair and it takes at least 24 hours to catch a flight with a paratransit van.

Where Lowell, North New York, lives in White Plains, paratransit vans are the only rental vehicles Wheelchair lifts and ramps. This means you do not have to go quickly to the grocery store or just go to a friend's house – unless her husband drives her. And when there is an emergency, such as when her husband was rushed to the ER with a pulmonary embolism, things get complicated.

"I could not go," said Lowell, 62. "There was no one to take me."

After this shock, Lowell decided that she – and all people in wheelchairs – should be able to move on demand like everyone else.

She sued Lyft in 2017 as part of an ongoing clbad proceeding on the grounds that the company would discriminate against people who use a wheelchair by not providing accessible vehicles. At that time, the Westchester Disabled on the Move advocacy group also joined the trial. Lowell's lawyer, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, said that Lyft's response to the case contradicted the image that the company was projecting from itself.

"Lyft is trying to present itself as a progressive alternative to Uber," said Frei-Pearson. But, he added, "Lyft showed no interest in a resolution, they fought us tooth and nail."

Uber, meanwhile, appears to be working on a resolution in response to a lawsuit, Frei-Pearson said.

The dispute of Lowell has not yet been decided. His lawyers seek to prove that Lyft is a transportation company and should adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lyft told CNET that he did not think he would be subject to federal law.

Under the ADA, all private entities providing transportation to the public are required to have wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The outcome of this case – and other similar ones – could ultimately dictate how cyclo-surveillance companies will serve people with disabilities across the United States.

"They want to be the means of transport of the 21st century, but they think that the laws of the 20th century are not applicable to them," said Frei-Pearson. "We want to fix it, not only for Harriet in White Plains, but for the people of Georgia, Kentucky, California and all over the country."

Lyft told CNET that the difficulty of getting around in a wheelchair was not a problem created or perpetuated. The company also said its business model is focused on drivers using their own car and that these drivers can not install wheelchair ramps or elevators in their vehicles for the sole purpose of driving for Lyft.

The company offers wheelchair accessible vehicles in eight cities in the United States and Toronto. And in several other major cities, Lyft has partnered with wheelchair-accessible transportation providers. Lyft said it would provide pbadengers with information about local alternative services in non-partnership locations.

Lyft also said that his goal was to expand transportation options for other types of people with disabilities. It has partnerships with the National Federation of the Blind and the National Association of the Deaf, which have helped improve the application of Lyft for the hearing impaired.

"We are always looking for ways to expand our offer and partnerships to ensure better access to transportation," Lyft spokeswoman said in an email.

The fallout of killing the taxi

Lowell has been using his motorized wheelchair for 10 years, but his disability began about 20 years ago. She has a degenerative disc disorder and fibromyalgia that gives her extreme pain and weakness in her neck, back and legs. First, she was in a manual wheelchair, but as her condition worsened, she had to get an electric wheelchair. This brought his own challenges.

"It will be short if there is a lot of rain or snow, and it can skid," Lowell said. "It's so limited."

Lowell's is not the first lawsuit against a company deemed discriminatory against people in wheelchairs. Last year, two separate lawsuits were filed against Uber and Lyft in the Bay Area for failing to provide wheelchair accessible vehicles. Similar lawsuits have been filed in Texas, Illinois, Mississippi and Washington, DC.

In the United States, 3.6 million people are currently using a wheelchair, according to the US Census Bureau. In addition to the ADA, anti-discrimination laws of many states require that taxis, bus companies and other transportation services accommodate people with disabilities. The majority of taxi companies in the United States have fleets of wheelchair accessible vehicles.

But with the shutdown of the Uber and Lyft companies, the taxi companies have stopped their activities or have reduced their fleet. The availability of wheelchair accessible vehicles has decreased significantly.

In San Francisco, for example, taxi rides using a wheelchair ramp have dropped about 70% in the last six years, according to a report released in April by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The number of rides has gone from about 1,300 per month in 2013 to about 400 per month this year. Although people in wheelchairs may be asking for the same number of trips, there are not enough vehicles available to provide them.

"Many of the benefits that attracted riders to [ride-hailing companies]such as the ease of payment, cheaper tariffs and shorter waiting times are not granted equally to people with disabilities, "says the report. [ride-hailing] the services also degraded the quality and availability of on-demand transportation access for cyclists requiring a wheelchair accessible vehicle by upsetting the existing taxi industry. "

According to the report, in the few cities where Uber and Lyft have wheelchair accessible vehicles, pbadengers are often not available or take much longer to book than a conventional trip.

Uber and Lyft offer wheelchair accessible vehicles in New York. Nevertheless, municipal regulators sued both companies in 2017, saying they had to provide more accessible routes faster. The complaint was settled last June and the two companies agreed to meet at least 80% of the wheelchair – accessible vehicle travel requests in less than 10 minutes by 2021, according to Politico.

Although disability rights advocates see this as a victory, it still does not help Lowell in White Plains.

His lawsuit does not ask for damages. Instead, she simply wants Lyft to provide equal access to people with disabilities.

"I'm lucky because I have a husband who will drive me in. But that's not the case for most people," Lowell said. "They could be alone – it's really difficult and it's happening all over the country for millions of people."