IATR PRESIDENT MATTHEW W. DAUS DELIVERS A MAJOR POLICY SPEECH AT THE TAXICAB, LIMOUSINE AND PARATRANSIT ASSOCIATION (TLPA) CONVENTION’S GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN SAN FRANCISCO

For the first time in the 25 year history of the International Association of Transportation Regulators (IATR), its President addressed the full Board of Directors and General Assembly at the well attended conference of the Taxi, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA). I was privileged and honored to be invited to share the IATR’s initiatives, and am pleased to report that both of our organizations will be partnering to support legislation and work together on research and other initiatives. When regulators and the industry work together – good things happen!

IATR and TLPA Forge Key Legislative Alliance to Obtain National Criminal Background Checks for Drivers and Other Licensees.

In response to the IATR’s request, the TLPA formed a committee of its Board to work with its standing committees and the IATR to draft and introduce legislation to allow local and state taxi and limousine licensing agencies to perform national criminal background checks. Unfortunately, there has existed for many years a loophole in the United States Code (Title 28, Section 534) that restricts access to this information to State and Local law enforcement agencies.

The licensing and regulation of taxicab, limousine and paratransit vehicles, drivers and businesses varies significantly by state in the U.S. For example, some states regulate through public utilities commissions, police departments, consumer affairs agencies, departments of transportation, metropolitan transit agencies or stand-alone taxi commissions. Unless an agency has a specific State law allowing access to national criminal background records, or is part of or affiliated with a police department, licensees could have committed very serious federal felonies and crimes in other states and regulators would never know about it. This is a very serious public safety issue, and the IATR and TLPA both believe that rather than wait until a serious incident or mass tragedy involving harm to passengers and others happens we should remove the federal loophole that may facilitate the use of for-hire vehicles for the commission of crimes.

Matthew Daus, Chair of the Windels Marx' Transportation Practice Group (left) joins Congressman John Mica (R-FL), Chairman of the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (center), and Michael Moriarty, Chair of Windels Marx' Corporate Division (right).

Daus Speaks Out on U.S. Attorney’s Lawsuit Involvement, Congressional ADA Reforms, and Subsidizing “Parataxis” as a Wheelchair Accessible Solution!

At the TLPA conference, I commented on a Federal lawsuit against the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) that has recently gained some significant attention, namely Noel v. TLC. This Federal case, which was commenced by disability advocates, claims that the TLC discriminates against wheelchair users under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the NYC Human Rights Law because there is no yellow accessible taxicab fleet.

232 of the City’s 13,237 taxicabs are wheelchair accessible, and the suit claims that ADA Title II, Subtitle B requires all taxicabs to be accessible because the TLC operates a “public transportation system.” The TLC claims that only ADA Title III applies which specifically exempts taxicabs from accessibility requirements. The suit goes a little deeper than that, but it attracted significant media attention based on a “statement of interest” having been filed by Hon. Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of NY, supporting the Plaintiffs’ case.

When I was TLC Chair, I initiated a pilot program using the 311 system to dispatch the 200+ wheelchair accessible taxicabs that we placed on the road through legislation the TLC sponsored as part of several medallion sales during my tenure. This system provided service for the disabled “where there was none!” Upon my departure from TLC the pilot concluded and the TLC decided to continue this successful framework by issuing an RFP to provide a dispatch service for both taxicabs and livery vehicles. Inevitably, this led to a lapse of service which, the U.S. Attorney argues in his papers, amounts to discrimination under the ADA. However, this point will become moot as the contract and service is expected to resume in March 2012.

From a policy standpoint, let’s take a step back and take a look at the big picture here. The ADA was intended to provide equal access in many areas including transportation, however, it has been 20 years since its passage and many things have changed.

The ADA contains an “exemption” for taxicabs from the requirements of the law. However, subsequently enacted federal regulations implementing the ADA require that where taxi and for-hire service is voluntarily provided, unless “equivalent service” standards are satisfied, including identical response times, rates of fare, quality of service, etc..., then discrimination has occurred." So, states, cities and private industry are not required to provide accessible taxi service but, if they seek to do so voluntarily, these Good Samaritans become branded as “discriminating” against the disabled for not providing “perfect service.”

There is even a more unique challenge in NYC as it is the only city in the country where taxis are exclusively limited to picking up street hails. Unless all taxis are accessible, wheelchair users attempting to hail those limited number of taxis on the street engage in a “needle in the haystack” search.

Taxicabs have always been viewed as a “private premium service.” Traditional forms of mass transit, such as buses and subways, have lower fares and are heavily subsidized by government funds. The options for wheelchair users have been limited in NYC and across the country with the publicly subsidized paratransit system primarily deploying accessible multi-passenger vans over non-fixed pre-arranged routes. This system, which requires reservations days in advance with significantly varied transport times, is wasteful and inefficient by its very design and needs to be reformed. An article I have co-authored with Dr. James Cooper from Scotland, soon to be published in an Elsevier transportation journal and presented at the 2012 Transportation Research Board meeting, calls on taxicabs - or “parataxis” – to provide this publicly subsidized service. This is the best solution to addressing the problem and not necessarily a lawsuit that could cause hardship for many businesses around the country.

When at TLC I started the ball rolling on a “parataxis” project that has continued with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to provide disabled passengers with door-to-door Access-A-Ride paratransit service using taxicabs and livery vehicles that accept vouchers and MTA credit cards. The federal government, including both the Obama Administration and Congress, should spend their efforts in a long overdue reform of the ADA in this area. The current laws and regulations involving taxicabs are outdated, unrealistic, and the pursuit of legal precedent via lawsuits in this instance will not address the underlying problems.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted each year on paratransit programs in every state and city that are inefficient by their very design wasting taxpayer dollars and providing unequal service and access for the disabled. Congress and the ADA’s prime sponsor, U.S. Senator Senator Tom Harkin (D- Iowa), who has championed the rights of the disabled and has become personally involved in this NYC issue, should help amend the ADA to clarify the responsibilities of taxicabs and paratransits.

If the Administration and Congress believe that taxicabs should be part of the public transportation system, as contended in the U.S. Attorney’s statement of interest, then just like buses, subways and other public transit, they should be subsidized! The best solution would be to implement a nationwide model replicating the use of wheelchair accessible “parataxis” as they are being deployed in NYC now. Instead of burdening private taxicab owners with unreasonable expenses and mandates that hurt small business, public transit agencies can issue dispatch and broker contracts to provide subsidized taxi service to the disabled through pre-arranged dispatch methods as the exclusive mode for all disabled passengers. Parataxis would work alongside and in conjunction with paratransit vans to provide a panoply of integrated services, more efficiently, economically and equally serving the public and the disability community.

Contact:
mdaus@windelsmarx.com
156 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019
T. 212.237.1106 • F. 212.262.1215

WINDELS MARX ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF, AND LEADERSHIP ROLE IN, COALITION OF TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATIONS (“COTA”)

Limousine and Black Car Trade Associations Join Forces with Leading Transportation Industry Law Firm to Pursue a Universal Mission

Windels Marx and all of the major New York Metro trade associations for the black car and luxury for-hire ground transportation industry have announced the formation of
the ground breaking Coalition of Transportation Associations (“COTA”). COTA’s mission is universal to its member
associations, namely:

The organization will be Chaired by Windels Marx partner, Matthew W. Daus, Esq., who leads the firm’s Transportation practice and has a long legacy of service to the transportation industry. COTA includes representation from the presidents of:

In addition, COTA will meet periodically, and as needed, to respond to important industry issues, proactively pursue a regulatory agenda, further matters of common interest and participate in joint forums and other events.

Matthew Daus said, “COTA is a result of growing cooperation within the industry on issues that affect all of our member associations. We believe that there is strength in numbers and indispensable advantages to communicate regularly, share information more proactively and to raise our collective profile through participation in various forums and events.” Mr. Daus will provide pro bono legal and consulting services to COTA, and he also serves as General Counsel to both LBOA and LANJ.

Barry Lefkowitz, Executive Director of LANJ, on behalf of Tim Rose (President) said, “It has been the philosophy and goal of LANJ for the past 14 years to work closely with the industry since issues are not just local but tend to be regional. It is important that we share our knowledge and resources with one another.”

From LANY, President Jeff Rose added, “It is long overdue that New York’s ground transportation industry speaks with a unified voice on the issues and objectives that concern all of us. We are a job creation machine. It is imperative that we work together and pursue policies, procedures and best practices that avoid a misfire of this economic engine.”

Berj Haroutunian, President of the Black Car Assistance Corporation, stated, “I am very pleased that all the organizations got together to form COTA. As we discovered through recent informal meetings, we have more in common than we have differences. When all member associations agree on an issue, COTA gives us a conduit to speak with a unified and powerful voice. I look forward to working with all my fellow members in the future.”

Douglas Schwartz, President of the Long Island Limousine Association, said “There is nothing more powerful than knowledge, and nothing easier than sharing that knowledge with people you know!”

In addition to the trade organizations, Ira Goldstein, the Executive Director of the Black Car Fund, (www.newyorkblackcarfund.org) will attend and participate in COTA meetings and activities, to provide organizational assistance and, where appropriate, to ensure that Workers’ Compensation coverage issues
are addressed.

About Windels Marx. With offices in New York, NY, Madison, NJ, New Brunswick, NJ, Princeton, NJ, and Stamford, Connecticut, Windels Marx is a full service law firm formed by the merger of two high quality, well known firms, Windels, Marx, Davies & Ives, with roots dating from the mid 1800's, and Lane & Mittendorf, LLP, itself one half century old. The Firm represents a diverse group of domestic and international clients in a broadbased general legal practice centering on transportation, corporate, litigation, real estate, employment, and other major business practice areas.

IATR — IN FOCUS
by Matthew W. Daus, Esq. President, International Association of Transportation Regulators Distinguished Lecturer, University Transportation Research Center, Region 2 Contact: mwdaus@juno.com