Taxi! TAXI!
TAXI!!!We all know how annoying it can be to hail a cab in
New York City. This is particularly true at rush hour, in the rain or near heavily trafficked tourist areas. God forbid you ever find yourself in
Times Square, in the rain, as the Broadway shows finish their curtain calls and the gussied up tourists meander to the corners in search of a ride back to a hotel or some restaurant featured in their edition of Fodor's travel guide.
Now imagine for a moment that you use a wheelchair. The annoyance of finding a cab becomes a huge and potentially disabling problem.
My father, brother and their colleagues recently designed, built and unveiled a brand new taxi cab which addresses this and several other issues. They call their vehicle the
Standard Taxi. It is less expensive to purchase and is far larger and more comfortable for passengers than the typical Crown
Victoria taxi cab.
Of all the well thought out features of the Standard Taxi perhaps none is more impressive than the fact that the Standard Taxi is also fully compliant with the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
Gawker recently bashed it for being ugly but I can tell you that function, not form, is the primary goal of this vehicle. It is cheaper to purchase and operate than the Crown Victoria, almost twice as fuel efficient, roomier (4 adult passengers can sit in the back), has a duty-cycle that will significantly outlast any taxi on the road today and is fully wheelchair accessible.
Here is a link to their
website, a
press release and an article in the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Finally, here are some pictures... What do you think?
Taxi! TAXI! TAXI!!!
5 comments:
I like it. As you mention, it is designed for function rather than form. My wife has a Scion xB which is also a roomy box. I think that it is great to have an ADA compliant taxi. The crown vics aren't all that great anyway.
To quote the Bauhaus: "It stripped away the decoration, and left clean lines of function." This cab is all good...
I don't think it's too ugly. Besides, it doesn't matter when you need a ride. It reminds me of a hummer, and in Seattle, that look seems pretty desirable these days.
I'm not a NYC dweller but I'm thinking, when you need it, a ride's a ride. And the fact that it's accomodating to all just makes it that much more appealing. I'm sure for every person that's saying "ew" there's one more who's saying "finally!"
It's identical in size and function to a new London Taxi, except uglier. Yes, you can roll a wheelchair into a London cab. They've been like that for years, and you can buy them in the States.
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