16.40.190 Taxi Company Accessible Service Requirements.

City Code Section

(Amended by Ordinance 188972, effective June 29, 2018.)

  1. A.  Taxi Companies shall provide reasonable accommodations to passengers with disabilities, including passengers accompanied by a service animal, passengers with hearing and visual impairments, and passengers with mobility devices.
  2. B.  Requests for service from a passenger accompanied by a service animal may not be refused.
  3. C.  Regarding accommodations to passengers with hearing and visual impairments:
    1. 1.  Taxi Companies shall maintain at all times dispatch services available to customers in accordance to W3C guidelines and ADA Section 503 requirements pertaining to hearing and visual accessibility.
    2. 2.  Taxi Companies shall maintain customer service support services pursuant to Subsection 16.40.140 H. in accordance to W3C guidelines and ADA Section 503 requirements pertaining to hearing and visual accessibility.
  4. D.  Regarding accommodations to passengers with mobility devices:
    1. 1.  Taxi Companies shall reasonably accommodate passengers with canes, walkers, or other mobility devices that can readily fit within a non-wheelchair-accessible Taxi Vehicle.
    2. 2.  Taxi Companies are required to provide wheelchair-accessible vehicle service within a reasonable time by maintaining a fleet of affiliated wheelchair-accessible (WAV) Taxi Vehicles, contracting with a permitted operator of wheelchair-accessible PFHT vehicles or a combination thereof. It is a rebuttable presumption that any time beyond 30 minutes is unreasonable.
    3. 3.  Fare rates for WAVs shall not exceed fare rates for comparable non-wheelchair-accessible Taxi Vehicles, and shall not be subject to dynamic pricing.
    4. 4.  WAV services must comply with Administrative Rule, WAV Service Performance Guidelines established by the PFHT Advisory Committee and the Portland Commission on Disability.
    5. 5.  Any permitted Taxi Company shall enter into an agreement with the City to regularly provide aggregated and anonymized data relevant to WAV service. Examples of relevant data may include, but not be limited to, the following:
      1. a.  Number, date, and time of fulfilled WAV trips;
      2. b.  WAV trip wait time;
      3. c.  Number, date, and time of WAV trips declined by the driver or the company;
      4. d.  WAV trip origin GPS, latitude and longitude; and
      5. e.  WAV trip destination GPS, latitude and longitude.
    6. 6.  The Director may implement an Accessible Transportation Fee and establish an Accessible Transportation Fund for the purpose of meeting the objectives established in Administrative Rule for Accessible Service.
      1. a.  The Accessible Transportation Fee rate shall be established by the PFHT Advisory Committee in consultation with the Portland Commission on Disability for the purpose of funding the Accessible Transportation Fund.
      2. b.  The Accessible Transportation Fund shall be managed by the Director for the purposes of providing an incentive for PFHT WAV service in keeping with WAV service performance guidelines and mitigating the higher costs of providing WAV service compared to comparable non-WAV service. A detailed report on the status and performance of the Accessible Transportation Fund and citywide WAV service provided by all permitted PFHT operators shall be presented to the PFHT Advisory Committee annually.
  5. E.  Failure to comply with any provision in Section 16.40.190 is a Class B violation subject to penalties provided in Sections 16.40.930 through 16.40.950.

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