Wheelchair accessible minicabs are ‘supplemented’ by the remaining London taxi vehicles says Mayor

Image credit: LEVC

Wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles are ‘supplemented’ by the remaining 13,500 London taxi vehicles as concerns over a diminishing taxi fleet and future accessibility for vulnerable people is brushed off by the London Mayor.

The London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, did however reiterate his confidence that black cabs will continue to ‘play a role’ in London’s future transport offering, despite taxi vehicle numbers dropping below 13,500 cabs licensed during the pandemic. A year ago in April 2020 there were a total of 18,504 taxi vehicles licensed.

Whilst all black taxis offer wheelchair accessible facilities, just 522 of the 77,783 private hire vehicles offer the same facilities. This has prompted members of the London Assembly to question the Mayor’s future plans for elderly and disabled people in the capital.

David Kurten, London Mayor Candidate and London Assembly Member, asked the Mayor: “Are you aware that less than 0.5% (half a percent) of all private hire vehicles are wheelchair accessible (and most of those are school run mini buses)?

“What will you do to see that London’s ageing and disabled population can get around if there are no purpose built wheelchair accessible taxis in the future, because they’ve been priced out of the market?”

Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, responded saying: “Transport for London publishes, and regularly updates, a list of licensed private hire vehicles (PHVs) that are wheelchair accessible here. The latest list contains details of 522 wheelchair accessible PHVs out of an overall fleet of 77,783 (equating to around 0.7 per cent of the fleet).

“These vehicles are supplemented by the current fleet of more than 13,600 taxis – all of which are wheelchair accessible and have a number of additional features, including a large interior passenger compartment, a doorway not less than 1.2m high, visible grab handles, intermediate steps and induction loops.

“Taxis and wheelchair accessible PHVs are not required to pay the Congestion Charge.

“As I make clear (in a previous Mayor Question), I am confident that taxis will continue to play a role in London’s future transport offering.”