Accessible Taxicabs Will Roll

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), who is quadriplegic and uses an electric wheelchair, usually makes his way around the District in a van and welcomed yesterday's decision.

"There was a day, for example, when my van for whatever reason didn't work, and I had to use the Metro," he said. "It would have been really nice to have that option to call a cab -- using one of the regular cabs around here would never have been an option for me."

Coward, the disability activist, found himself stranded one day last summer when his electric wheelchair broke down near Alabama Avenue and Seventh Street SE.

"I had to call my uncle," Coward said. "He brought his car -- it took him an hour and 20 minutes."

Coward's wheelchair couldn't fit in the car, and it was too heavy to push by hand. So Coward had his uncle push him down the street with the car.

"We would get so many stares," Coward said. And then they passed the 7th Police District station.

"They went ballistic," Coward said. "Like, you can't be pushing a wheelchair with a car. . . . As fate would have it, a MetroAccess vehicle happened to drive by" and offered him a ride.

He would rather have called a taxi.

"Imagine if I was in inclement weather," Coward said. "Good thing it was a great day."