A consultation on the Wheelchair Accesible Vehicle (WAV) policy for Aberdeen’s taxi fleet will run until February 28, 2018.
Aberdeen City Council introduced a policy in 1994 which required all new applications for a taxi operator’s licence to be in respect of a wheelchair accessible vehicle. An exemption was granted to existing licence holders at that time which allowed them to continue to licence a saloon vehicle.
The exemption is due to expire in June 2019 – meaning the entire fleet would be required to be wheelchair accessible from that date.
The policy relates to the taxi fleet only and not private hire vehicles. Taxis (identified by yellow identification plates displaying vehicle details) are vehicles that can be hired from a rank, whereas private hire vehicles (identified by red identification plates displaying vehicle details) require to be pre-booked.
Following proposals for a mixed taxi fleet to be considered, utilising both wheelchair accessible and saloon vehicles, a consultation is taking place to canvas opinion from the public, taxi trade and other stakeholders.
Cllr John Reynolds, convener of the Aberdeen City Council licensing committee, said: “The policy to make the taxi fleet 100% wheelchair accessible resulted from the Council’s obligations in terms of the Equality Act and that remains an important consideration.
"We are committed to consulting widely on the issue and hope to attract views from a range of respondents which will help inform the recommendations and decisions going forward. Do we need a 100% wheelchair accessible fleet or should we be looking at a mixed fleet to include saloon cars?”
The consultation document can be found here: https://goo.gl/ZZieJ6 .