While planning for our vacation to New Orleans, my girlfriend and I have had an interesting time finding accommodations. Whether it be finding a hotel with a roll-in shower and open space under the bed to accommodate a patient lift, finding accessible transportation, or just general planning for walking around the city the search has turned into a three-ring circus of calls, emails, and questions.
My latest excursion has been finding an accessible taxi. I’ve found numerous articles noting the mayoral initiative to expand the number of Taxi services available to the greater NOLA service area. But, for each cab company I call I hear the same old tale … “I’m so sorry, we do not offer wheelchair service”.
Researching other transportation options has yielded private charter services which run $90 per hour (minimum of 3 hours). One such service is available for Swamp and City tours, which normally charge $50 to $70 per person for the tour and transport from the visitor’s hotel (perhaps the private charter would be affordable if I happen to win it big at one of the Casino’s).
Out of desperation, I’ve tried calling the visitor’s bureau, city hall, and several other public offices, all to receive the same answer; “have you tried Yellow Pages”? In some cases the office will be so kind as to send an email with a link to a Yellow Pages search on “Taxi” and “Wheelchair”; which yields a list of taxi cab vendors and a list of medical equipment vendors … sigh. Finally, as a last ditch effort, I finally contacted the head of the Taxi Cab administrative bureau to find out that there’s only one remaining accessible service.
Oh well, at least the bus lines are accessible.
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