The Courier reported that very few Fife operators can carry a passenger in a wheelchair, that the large vehicles with ramps cost about £58,000 and are too much for many firms, and that Lyall Allan and Reagan Vettrino are among dozens of people calling for more of them. That is the paper's description, not an official count. The group has lobbied the council's licensing service and local politicians for months.
Buckhaven and Leven
Lyall Allan, 64, from Buckhaven, is often unable to book a taxi. He put it in these words. "I feel like a prisoner some weeks because I can't go out."
Reagan Vettrino, 29, from Leven, has stayed extra nights in hospital until accessible transport was in place. She has relied on her 79-year-old grandfather to fold her wheelchair and lift it into his car. She fears he is becoming less able to do that, and that a taxi will be her only way to get home.
One 2 One Taxis
The group is working with Andy Nisbet of One 2 One Taxis in Levenmouth, one of the few firms with a cab that can take a wheelchair. He put the volume of work in these words. "I'm so busy I've had to let people down."
Bookings come from across Fife and are often taken a week or more ahead. People turned away have included care home residents going to a doctor, someone travelling to a funeral, and a woman who wanted to vote. He is reluctant to take a holiday or a day off. A proposal that the council buy taxis and lease them to firms that cannot afford the purchase has been ruled out as too expensive.
The licensing committee
Councillor Louise Kennedy-Dalby, an SNP member of the Regulation and Licensing Committee, uses a wheelchair and has been working with the group. She put the case for action in these words. "Wheelchair-accessible vehicles is an item in need of urgent assessment.
"If you look at the Fife Council website it looks as though there are quite a few taxi companies with accessible vehicles.
"But most of them are tied into school contracts and aren't available for public journeys.
"Over the last year or two it has got predominantly worse.
"You can see people all over Facebook asking for contacts for companies that can take a wheelchair.
"This isn't sustainable in the long-term but it shouldn't be a big problem to solve."
Fife Council publishes a list of wheelchair-accessible taxis and private hire cars so passengers can plan a journey. Fife Council vehicle list
Dundee and the East Fife pilot
The same gap was raised two years ago, when St Andrews wheelchair user Paul Bartlett asked Fife to follow Dundee. On the paper's figures, Dundee has more than 300 accessible taxis, around half its fleet, because new taxi licences are limited while applications for wheelchair-accessible vehicles are still approved. Licensing staff were monitoring the Fife position then and left open a similar approach.
This week the licensing service is in discussion with taxi operators, and will talk to other local authorities about how they have approached accessible taxis.
Steven Paterson, team manager, set out a six-month pilot in East Fife last year. It was meant to encourage operators to invest in accessible vehicles and make them available to wheelchair users every day. There was no interest and no uptake. He asked the public to respond, in these words. "We'd welcome feedback from members of the public to better understand their concerns and to explore any alternatives."
Go-Flexi, the council's on-demand bus, has improved accessible transport in some parts of Fife.