Department of Motor Vehicles

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Contact:
Tim O’Brien 
[email protected]

James Plastiras  
[email protected]

Joe Morrissey  
[email protected]

NEW YORK STATE ANNOUNCES FINAL PUBLIC SESSION FOR TASK FORCE TO APPROVE RIDE SHARING SERVICE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CUSTOMERS WITH DISABILITIES

Final Meeting to be Held in Albany on February 15

Task Force will make recommendations regarding accessibility

The New York State Transportation Network Company Accessibility Task Force today announced that the final meeting of the Task Force will be conducted on February 15, 2019. The session will be held at the Empire State Plaza Concourse, Meeting Rooms 2-3, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. This session will conclude a series of five public listening sessions held across the state to examine accessible ride-sharing services for people with disabilities.

The task force was established through legislation passed last year to bring ride-sharing services to Upstate New York and Long Island. Members of the task force include representatives from organizations that serve people with disabilities and representatives from transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft. The task force is concluding its work by adopting a report summarizing the information it has gathered and making recommendations to improve rideshare services for customers with disabilities. The recommendations within the report are based on public testimony from the listening sessions and submitted written comments. The final approved report will be submitted to Governor Cuomo and the Legislature for their consideration.

The session will begin with a brief presentation from the members of the task force to outline the contents of the report. Following the presentation, the Task Force members will vote on whether to approve the report and submit their recommendations to Governor Cuomo and the Legislature.

Sign language interpreters and closed captioning will be available at the forum so all attendees have equal ability to participate. If additional accommodations are needed, please email [email protected].   

The law authorizing transportation network company (TNC) operations took effect June 29, 2017. Previously, ride sharing services were only available to travelers in New York City. The law also resulted in protections for passengers and regulations for how TNCs may operate and be licensed. More information for passengers, applicants, drivers and local governments is available on the NY State DMV website rideshare page.

###