New York City’s New Taxis: Minivans With Phone Chargers

New York City’s redesigned taxi fleet will have more legroom, non-stick, anti-bacterial seats, a sunroof and outlets for cell phone charging, according to New York City’s website.

Made by Nissan, the cars will also have independent passenger climate controls and passenger reading lights and two USB ports for laptop charging.

The “Taxis of Tomorrow,” for New York City was unveiled Tuesday at the New York International Auto Show, Bloomberg News reported.

The cabs look like minivans, but are slightly smaller than the Crown Victoria models of today. They are expected to get about 25 miles per gallon, according to NPR. 

The taxis, which cost $29,700 a piece, will begin appearing on New York’s streets in the fall of 2013, according to NPR and will replace the city’s entire 13,000-car fleet by 2018, Bloomberg reported.

The Nissan NV200 beat out proposals by Turkish automaker KarsanUSA, which offered an automated wheelchair ramp, and Ford, which came out with a wider and roomier version of the Crown Victoria, with better mileage, .

Jean Ryan of the Taxis for All Campaign criticized the choice for not being wheelchair accessible. According to Nissan, the cab can be modified to fit a wheelchair, but that might add upwards of $12,000 to the price, NPR reported.

"Nobody with a disability can ride it. And we call that segregation and discrimination," Ryan told NPR.

Currently, about 230 city cabs – about 2 percent of the fleet – are accessible. Around 60,000 wheelchair users live in the city, according to the Disability Network of New York City’s website.