Despite these obstacles, we’re constantly working to improve reliability of the service and find solutions to address supply challenges.” The company currently works with third-party providers to supply WAV vehicles and works to recruit drivers who already have WAVs, but company officials hold that these solutions aren’t feasible nationwide. Laurel Golio for NBC NewsĪ Lyft spokesperson told NBC News: “There is an extremely limited supply of these specially manufactured vehicles across the country, and even fewer among the population of rideshare drivers. Joshua Cooper, a participant in the pending class-action lawsuit against LYFT, attempts to request an accessible vehicle through the LYFT app with no success. Lyft said in the filing that it can’t simply “turn on” “Access” mode to connect riders with WAV drivers in other areas because there aren’t enough of those vehicles. In regions where this “Access” mode isn’t available, riders are directed to other transportation options, according to court documents. 29 in White Plains, New York.Īccording to court documents filed by Lyft and its website, the company offers WAV services through an “Access” ride option on the app in the nine cities that require the company to do so. Lyft officials will appear in court over the suit on Aug. It is a private company that has no obligation to provide WAVs on its platform,” Lyft officials wrote in a private federal court filing obtained by NBC News. Now, in court filings obtained exclusively by NBC News, which will later be made public, Lyft is arguing that it is not subject to regulations in the Americans with Disabilities Act that would require it to ensure the availability of wheelchair accessible vehicles because it is a technology company, not a transportation business. Lyft has been embroiled in the class action suit over the matter since 2017, when Lowell and WDOMI sued the company for failing to accommodate people with wheelchairs that don’t fold. “Remove the toggle everywhere else and you’ll give a lot more WAV rides.” To do that, all Lyft has to do is turn off the blocker - or toggle - that prevents people from identifying their vehicles as WAVs and prevents riders from requesting WAVs,” said Frei-Pearson, an attorney for Harriett Lowell, who filed the original class action suit against Lyft alongside disability rights group Westchester Disabled on the Move Inc (WDOMI). “Lyft needs to provide wheelchair accessible service to everyone. But disability rights groups want Lyft to make this access available nationwide. Advocates aren’t seeking any monetary damages but, instead, are asking Lyft to help WAV drivers reach riders in need by both allowing drivers to categorize their vehicles as WAVs, and turn off any app blockers that would prevent riders from selecting the company’s accessible ride option in these non-access regions.Īttorney Jeremiah Frei-Pearson said Lyft does this in cities located in states with government regulations, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Phoenix, San Francisco, and some surrounding areas. Lurio is one of many people across the country who say they are unable to use Lyft because the ride-sharing company won’t make wheelchair accessible vehicles (or WAVs) available to passengers with nonfolding wheelchairs in areas outside of where Lyft is required by state laws to do so (or “non-access” regions, as disability rights groups call them). If I’d been able to get a Lyft ride, none of that would have happened.” “I was stuck at the hospital overnight having to explain that I wasn’t sick, I just needed an ambulance to get home. “The ambulance could only bring me to a hospital, not my home,” he explained.
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