Could Taxis Hold The Key To London's Olympic Bid?

Vehicles that a million users a day in London take for granted could be the key to London’s Olympic bid. All of the Capital’s 21,000 licensed London Taxis are wheelchair accessible. It is estimated that in each of the other cities being considered for the Olympics and Paralympics there is little more than a handful of such vehicles.

Following last month’s visit to the UK by the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission to review the bid by the London 2012 organisation to host the Olympic Games and Paralympics, it was discovered that only London can offer 100 per cent of its licensed taxis as being wheelchair accessible out of the five cities involved in the bid.

Cities bidding for the event are London, Madrid, Moscow, New York and Paris.

This is a very significant factor for the committee to decide on before making their final choice to be announced on 6 July 2005. Disabled visitors to the Olympics and disabled competitors and visitors to the Paralympics will have the facility to use 21,000 iconic, purpose built London Black Cabs, taxis that visitors, workers and residents use day in and day out already.

It has been revealed that organisers of the London 2012 Olympics have made numerous references in the transport section of their bid to the IOC that only London can offer 21,000 wheelchair accessible taxis. Two other competing cities who mention such transport arrangements in their bids are New York with only 12 wheelchair accessible MPV taxis, which have to be pre-booked; and Paris where there is said to be only seven Renault Espace wheelchair accessible taxis available. The IOC’s evaluation committee has just completed their review of the Paris bid.

As far as the London 2012 organisers are aware no city in the world has taxis designed in the way of the UK’s Black Cabs so it is not possible for them to offer this service. Most special taxi services in other countries are a ‘disabled’ vehicle with a tailgate lift.

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Bid said, "London and the UK is unique in its provision of public transport for disabled people as part of general provision and not something special that needs pre-planning. Transport for London and London 2012 believe that disabled people should be able to enjoy the same level of public transport service as everyone else. That's why the whole of London's public bus fleet will be accessible by the end of 2005 to join the 21,000 black cabs on the streets of the capital. Most of the newest tube route, the Jubilee line, is accessible as is the Docklands Light Railway."

"Over the next few years increasing parts of the tube and the railway network will have similar high levels of accessibility. Imagine what a great advantage that is to independent-minded Paralympians coming to London in 2012."

A London 2012 spokesperson added, "We stress that we will stage a Games that is accessible to all; we want accessibility not only for the Paralympic Games but also for all groups attending both the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games".