Columbia cab company accused of charging fee for riders in wheelchairs

The Columbia Disabilities Commission wrote a letter to ABC Taxi this week after its chairman said the company tried to charge him an extra fee for being in a wheelchair.

“It’s amazing what some people will do or they just don’t know that’s the law,” commission Chairman Chuck Graham said. “But the fact that you have an accessible vehicle doesn’t mean you can charge more for that ride then any other citizen.”

Graham said the ABC Taxi tried to charge him a $25 loading and unloading fee about a month ago, which is against the Americans with Disabilities Act.

ABC 17 News spoke Thursday to the owner of ABC Taxi on Thursday who said the company has since stopped charging the extra fee. He said the company hasn’t received the commission’s letter yet.

Graham said there’s currently only two wheelchair accessible cabs in Columbia, making it difficult to find accessible transportation 24/7.

Columbia’s Para-transit bus and other services require rides to be scheduled 24 hours in advance and don’t operate at all hours of the day.

“Imagine if you had to schedule every car ride you had 24 hours in advance, and you couldn’t take your car out after 7 (p.m.), and you couldn’t use it on Sundays, you’d be really limited in what you could do,” Graham said.

The city recently approved two $10,000 grants to help taxi companies pay for two new wheelchair accessible cabs from existing city funds. The commission’s proposal to the city council includes funding for two grants each year.

Graham said he’s hopeful the grants will bring more accessible transportation to Columbia.

“That’s a really cheap public investment in a public-private partnership to be able to expand the ability to travel by taxi in this community,” he said. “It’s a lot cheaper than expanding the hours of Para-transit.”