The City may issue 2,000 new taxi medallions which will permit the addition of 2,000 yellow cabs to the New York City fleet.

All must be accessible cabs.

The City can only sell 400 of these medallions until they have submitted a plan to make taxis and liveries accessible to New York State Department of Transportation which has 60 days to review the plan.

Assuming the State approves the plan, which must be developed in consultation with interested stakeholders and the New York City Council, the remaining medallions may go on sale.

The plan will be developed during the first year after passage of this bill to address yellow cabs as they are replaced (the Governor told the New York City TLC Commissioner that he would reject any plan that did not require 100% access to yellow cabs).

The livery cars i.e. the cabs that serve northern Manhattan and the other four boroughs of New York City, which are currently prohibited from picking up street hails (unlike yellow cabs) and operate approximately 30,000 vehicles, will be sold 18,000 street hail permits. 6,000 may be sold the first year of which 1,200 must be accessible. The accessible liveries can be used for street hail and dispatch purposes.

The TLC, which is expected to raise $1 billion from the medallion sales for yellow cabs, will subsidize accessible liveries with a grant of $15,000 per vehicle for accessible livery vehicles. Up to $54 million in grants will be provided by the TLC for this purpose.

The livery street hail permit is transferable and therefore, will appreciate in value much like the taxi medallion has. Yellow cab medallions were recently sold at auction for $1 million apiece. There are only 13,000 and some were purchased for $10 during the 1930s. The livery permits will sell for approximately $1,500.