Contact: LaToya Foster (EOM) (202) 727-5011
Neville Waters (202) 645-6020

The DC Taxicab Commission (DCTC) took action to clarify the requirement for taxicab and black car luxury class companies to meet the requirement to have a specific percentage of wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) in their fleets. The statutory requirement for these organizations set forth by the Establishment Act is to have at least six (6%) percent of their vehicles be wheelchair accessible by December 31, 2014; at least twelve (12%) percent by December 31, 2016; and at least twenty (20%) percent by December 31, 2018.

The adoption of final rulemaking for Chapters 5 and 12 of Title 31 of the DC Municipal Regulations allows taxi companies that do not meet the required percentage to receive a temporary authority to operate provided that a specific plan is submitted that demonstrates how the company will reach the standard for compliance within one hundred eighty (180) days.

Luxury class vehicles are exempt from the WAV requirement when fifty (50%) percent or more of the vehicle’s aggregated operating time in any three (3) months during the calendar year is contracted to provide transportation that is not a public vehicle-for-hire service; or is used to provide transportation that is not a public vehicle-for-hire service.

DCTC also assigned the Panel on Industry the responsibility to review the various matters pertaining to issuing H-tags. The Panel will hold hearings, conduct meetings with taxi drivers, owners and industry stakeholders and accept public feedback in order to undertake the necessary research to determine how best to proceed. The recommendations of the Panel are expected by April 15, 2015.