An opportunity missed is an opportunity lost. That’s exactly what happened in NYC when Bloomberg lead powers picked the wrong taxi.

One never knows what motivates “the powers” to exercise their authority in any given direction on any given day and for what purpose they exercise.

It certainly looks like they worked over a large number of NYC wheelchair users when Mayor Bloomberg & Company failed to pick the Karsan wheelchair accessible taxi (shown above) that could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as serve wheelchair users and the ever growing aging population.

“If this decision holds, it will be a black eye on the legacy of Mayor Bloomberg’s administration as it is financially inexcusable and perpetuates discrimination against people with disabilities for the next ten years,” stated James Weisman, United Spinal Association senior vice president and general counsel.

Read the rest.

It appears that they overlooked a wheelchair and scooter friendly taxi made by a Turkish company, Karsan that could be made in Brooklyn employing 800 workers and chose, instead, an inaccessible Nissan cab.

This is lost opportunity, or worse, it’s a slap in the face and kick in the ass to New York City’s wheelchair using population who have now been presented with yet another barrier to their mobility.

The added barrier is a discrete one that the walking public may not even understand. A present NYC sedan style taxi, even though not wheelchair accessible, allows some extent of unassisted or assisted transfer from a wheelchair to the cab seat for those wheelchair users who can manage it.

A mini-van such as the one chosen by NYC presents a much greater barrier. Seats are higher and set back in the vehicle. For the vast majority of wheelchair users who can do a transfer this would mean transferring to the floor of the vehicle and then attempting an uphill transfer from the vehicle floor to the seat. Forget it! Very few wheelchair users can manage or want to attempt that dangerous trick with or without assistance.

So, things have now worsened for the taxi using wheelchair riding citizens of New York City. Those that had the dexterity, ambition, and fortitude to attempt manual transfers into an NYC taxi will probably not be able or want to tackle this newly purchased obstacle.

It’s disappointing of course coming from a city and administration that considers itself forward thinking and progressive. What’s worse, other cities often follow the lead of bigger ones, so this may be the beginnings of a national roll-back on accessible transportation. That would be quite bogus indeed.