People who use wheelchairs in Boston can take heart in several pieces of good news. First, Boston police are serious about enforcing laws that require cab drivers to pick up passengers with wheelchairs. The police have been conducting sting operations for a month and a half, with undercover officers posing as fares. And in that time, they’ve found no violations — which means cabdrivers seem serious about the law, as well.
That’s not to say that problems don’t exist. The stings began after Shari Zakim, the daughter of the late civil rights leader Lenny Zakim, had trouble hailing a cab in her wheelchair on New Year’s Eve. Other Bostonians with disabilities have complained of similar snubs. And it’s possible that some cabdrivers are on their best behavior because they detect or suspect that police are watching.
But it was also clear, when Zakim first shared her story, that many taxi drivers and cab company owners believed in the spirit of the law and condemned those who broke it. And because the demand for accessible cabs will only increase in coming years, the city and state should make full use of incentive programs that make wheelchair-accessible cabs more affordable for financially-strapped cab drivers.
With enough driver training, enough goodwill, and enough accessible cabs on the street, the city should reach a point where sting operations aren’t needed at all.
