Int 0599-2011

Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Chapter five of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-538 to read as follows: § 19-538 Vision impairment accessibility requirements. a. For the purposes of this section, “accessible to people with vision impairments” shall mean a taxicab that is equipped with instructions for contacting the commission in Braille and large-print text and if such taxicab has payment technology installed, such technology must provide a payment option to permit visually impaired passengers to pay unassisted. Such payment option shall have audio instruction and shall have audible announcements of the initial charge, the fare periodically during the trip, at the end of the trip, and when there is a rate code change and/or toll charge, in such manner as provided for and adopted by the commission. b. Commencing May 1, 2013, all taxicabs must be accessible to people with vision impairments. The instructions about contacting the commission described in subdivision a of this section shall be on the same side and in the same passenger compartment in each taxicab, and the payment technology described in subdivision a of this section shall be in the same passenger compartment in each taxicab. c. The commission may by rule establish greater levels of accessibility for taxicabs than those required by this section. §2. This local law shall take effect immediately. JW/LF LS# 2121 11/16/12