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Wheelchair transportation

Wheelchair Taxi: Latest News, Facts and FAQ on Accessible Transportation

25. August 2025, 09:04 Uhr

Wheelchair taxis enable barrier-free transportation in everyday life. This overview covers new vehicle models, conversions, and safety systems, as well as questions regarding fares, surcharges, subsidies, and driver training. In addition, all general information and an FAQ on the topic of wheelchair taxis can be found.

Systems with swivel/folding seats (here from Tribus), in which the passenger seats remain in the vehicle while transporting wheelchair passengers, can certainly comply with DIN 75078. (Photo: Dietmar Fund)
Systems with swivel/folding seats (here from Tribus), in which the passenger seats remain in the vehicle while transporting wheelchair passengers, can certainly comply with DIN 75078. (Photo: Dietmar Fund)
25.08.2025
Redaktion (allg.)

Table of contents: Navigate effortlessly through our comprehensive news collection on the topic of wheelchair taxis (click to jump to the corresponding news item and at the end of each news item simply click to return here to the index)

This article consists of the following wheelchair taxi news items:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2024:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2023:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2022:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2021:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2020:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2019:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2018:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2017:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2016:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2015:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2014:

Wheelchair taxi news from 2009 - 2013:

Driver training and wheelchair-transport training at the Ortenau road safety day

News from 07.05.2024 by Thomas Kanzler

A large number of companies and their employees from the regional and supraregional passenger transport industry followed the invitation to the 7th Ortenau road safety day of the taxi industry on May 4, 2024 at the Lahr airfield.

The focus of the event was on the statutory instructions for driving staff, which were expanded by the supplementary standard module “Wheelchair transport” of this overall concept developed in Ortenau. This trains and internalizes, in particular, how to deal with passengers with reduced mobility as well as the correct handling of securing wheelchairs in specially converted wheelchair taxis.

The highlight of the day for participants was certainly driving through a course and a simulated emergency stop on a slippery surface. Among other things, the interaction of driver assistance systems such as ABS/ESP was impressively demonstrated. The instructors were Thomas Zehnle and Frank Jockers from SVG Baden e.G.

Questions about patient transport

Another module at the event covered topics such as “Immediate measures for taxi drivers,” “What can I do if a dialysis patient has secondary bleeding during the trip?” and “How do I deal with seizures in passengers?” In the training by Ms. Johanna Sievers, numerous practical questions could be asked and answered.

A total of 84 training participants once again confirmed the importance and acceptance of the topic of “occupational safety.” The atmosphere among participants was consistently positive; many conversations and discussions also took place across companies on a collegial level. The Church Social Station Jagsttal was welcomed as the guest with the longest journey (almost 250 kilometers) and with the presentation of a vehicle specially converted for an employee with a forearm amputation.

If you missed the event: An identical event will take place again on September 7, 2024 at the Lahr airfield.

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Wheelchair taxis: Citan and T-Class with long wheelbase now orderable

News from 09.12.2023 by Dietmar Fund

At Mercedes-Benz you can now order the Citan Tourer and the T-Class with a long wheelbase and up to seven seats. A solution for retrofit to a taxi or rental car appears to be emerging.

On St. Nicholas Day 2023, Mercedes-Benz let an important cat out of the bag: The panel-van combi Citan Tourer and its somewhat more upscale sibling, the T-Class, can now also be ordered with a long wheelbase. This makes the Caddy competitor derived from the Renault Kangoo and closely related to the Nissan Townstar more interesting for the commercial transport sector and especially as a base for wheelchair taxis than the short wheelbase version.

The long versions grow by 42 centimeters to around five meters in overall length. The wheelbase increases by 38.4 centimeters to 3.10 meters, which is said to benefit both the passenger compartment and the trunk. It should also make access to the third row easier, which is also available in the T-Class. In that case, the second row has three individual seats instead of a bench. All seats in the second and third rows are said to slide, fold and be removable, providing great flexibility. The T-Class has sliding doors on both sides and is available in three trim lines.

The long-wheelbase Citan Tourer comes standard with three individual seats; two more in the third row are optional. Here too, the seats in both rows are adjustable and foldable. There is no mention of removability. The long Citan Tourer also has two sliding doors as standard. At the rear you can choose between two swing doors and a tailgate.

Despite orders starting for the long version, the panel-van combis from Mercedes-Benz and Nissan cannot yet be retrofitted as taxis or rental cars because a distance signal (for taximeters) is still missing. Reportedly, however, a solution is emerging for the Citan, T-Class and Townstar, while Renault still shows no commitment to this issue.

Another limitation is the powertrain: Unlike the short wheelbase version, there is only the Citan Tourer 113 long, a gasoline engine with 96 kW/131 hp. At least it is also available with a 7-speed automatic transmission. The same applies to the T-Class, where the models are named differently.

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Wheelchair taxi converter MobiTEC with new rail system

News from 30.11.2023 by Dietmar Fund

The family firm from Berkheim has developed new aluminum profile rails intended mainly for side installation on the walls of 3.5-tonners.

Harald Damaschke, founder and, together with his son Marco and Michael Ritter, managing director of wheelchair taxi specialist MobiTEC GmbH & Co. KG from Berkheim, is currently having the name protected for new aluminum profile rails intended primarily for installation on the side walls of 3.5-tonners. There they are used as a supplement to the self-developed aluminum system floor in order to variably anchor securement systems for wheelchair users. This makes positioning wheelchairs easier, whose dimensions are known to vary widely.

The new profile rails are also used in vehicles with rear cut-outs and one wheelchair space, with which MobiTEC began 25 years ago and which have since been the company’s mainstay. There they allow head-neck supports to be anchored at several positions instead of being permanently installed. In this way MobiTEC realizes a seven-seater in the currently most in-demand base model VW Caddy Maxi, a.k.a. Ford Grand Tourneo Connect, in which you can also carry the head-neck support behind the full seating.

With the predecessor model, which Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles still built alone, you had to do without either the seventh seat or the head-neck support. However, many taxi and rental companies need the seven seats at weekends to transport, for example, young people to discos and events.

In the meantime, Harald Damaschke has brought all steel fabrication in-house and also manufactures the floor pans for the rear cut-outs himself, which were previously sourced from contract manufacturers in the region. For this purpose, he and his son have purchased a welding robot and a laser welding machine. Marco Damaschke is currently working on further optimizing the production processes.

As Harald Damaschke reports, his team will grow again in January 2024 from the current 25 to 28 heads, which he is very pleased about. After all, around 120 high-roof MPVs and vans of several tonnage classes are currently waiting on the company premises and a nearby parking lot to be converted into motor vehicles for transporting people with reduced mobility. The installation of driving aids and the construction of campervans, which began during the coronavirus period, must therefore take a bit of a back seat right now.

For 2024, the company boss plans to have a stronger presence at trade fairs again. For the first time, he also wants to exhibit at Rehacare International in Düsseldorf. There, he aims, among other things, to raise the profile of his installation kits for rear entries, which, analogous to API and AMF-Bruns, he offers to other converters for installation, Damaschke reported during a visit from taxi heute at the end of November 2023.

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Wheelchair taxis: Major misunderstanding regarding folding seats

News from 13.10.2023 by Dietmar Fund

Folding passenger seats in some multi-purpose taxis can also comply with DIN 75078 for KMP. The real problem is many wheelchairs with adjustable backrests.

In the initial report on the wheelchair taxi seminar of BG Verkehr, which took place from October 10 to 12, 2023 in the Sauerland region, an unfortunate misunderstanding occurred. The claim made in an initial report that vehicles with folding seats do not comply with DIN 75078 is incorrect and based on a major misunderstanding. Matthias Koch, who is responsible at BG Verkehr for motor vehicles for the transportation of mobility-impaired persons (KMP) and sits on the standards committee, was not referring to systems with swivel/folding seats on the side walls, but to wheelchairs with adjustable backrests. They are only permitted if the backrest can be locked.

As Koch notes, folding seats are not components of DIN 75078. All passenger seats are tested under European law to determine whether they withstand certain forces. Whether they are fixed or locked into a system floor, or are rotatable or swiveling, is irrelevant.

The editorial team mistakenly made the connection to systems such as Schnierle’s Rollibox or similar systems from Tribus or European Van Services (EVS), after having reported for years on swivel/folding seats in the most diverse variants of panel-van combis and transporters with system floors. We regret the misunderstanding.

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Wheelchair taxi seminar: The electric London taxi is not DIN-compliant

News from 13.10.2023 by Dietmar Fund

The KMP expert at BG Verkehr explained at a wheelchair taxi seminar that the so-called London Taxi LEVC TX does not comply with the DIN 75078 applicable to wheelchair vehicles.

What constitutes state of the art for motor vehicles for the transportation of mobility-impaired persons (KMP) and is used as a benchmark in legal disputes after accidents is DIN 75078. It defines requirements for vehicles in various categories and also regulates how wheelchair users and their wheelchairs must be secured. “The London Taxi, which is approved under European law, does not meet the requirements of this DIN,” explained Matthias Koch, KMP specialist at BG Verkehr, on October 11, 2023 in Sellinghausen at its three-day seminar entitled “Staying safe and healthy while transporting mobility-impaired persons.”

The KMP specialist at BG Verkehr, who is also on the standards committee, pointed out regarding the non-DIN-compliant London Taxi that the driver has to push the wheelchair user into the vehicle and turn them 90 degrees into the direction of travel so that both the wheelchair and passenger can be secured. In the tight vehicle this is no fun and often even impossible with power wheelchairs. If you only rarely transport a passenger in a wheelchair, you can certainly accept that. If you have wheelchair passengers every day, a vehicle with a rear cut-out is much more convenient. In any case, an operator should first assess in their risk assessment whether one concept or the other works better before deciding on a vehicle.

The latest version of DIN 75078 has also included a sticker for marking wheelchair spaces since January 1, 2023, added Matthias Koch. It is intended for attachment to the side wall and marks where the shoulder of wheelchair users should be so that they can be properly secured with the permanently installed diagonal shoulder belt. However, in vehicles where the diagonal shoulder belts are anchored on airline rails and can be moved, the stickers make no sense.

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Wheelchair taxis: You absolutely need to learn proper securement

News from 12.10.2023 by Dietmar Fund

A BG Verkehr seminar showed 13 participants how to properly secure wheelchairs and wheelchair users and provided many tips for dealing with the variety of wheelchairs.

Wheelchair users who are still able to transfer to a vehicle seat should definitely be transported there. If transferring is not possible, wheelchairs with docking points provide the greatest protection. If they do not have them, utmost care is required to secure both the wheelchair and the passenger. That was the “red thread” running through the seminar entitled “Staying safe and healthy while transporting mobility-impaired persons,” which BG Verkehr held from October 10 to 12, 2023 at Hotel Stockhausen in Sellinghausen in the Sauerland region.

Matthias Koch organized the seminar and was supported by co-presenter Christian Ecke. Based in Duisburg, Koch works in BG Verkehr’s prevention department and is responsible for motor vehicles for transporting mobility-impaired persons (KMP) and for driving services, and he also sits on the DIN standards committee for this category. From Berlin, Ecke deals with non-emergency patient transport, emergency services and undertakers. They received support during practical exercises on a VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out and a VW Crafter with system floor and rear lift from Kai Hemmioltmanns, Head of After Sales Hubmatik and training manager at AMF-Bruns, and his technical consultant Jens Specketer.

Drawing on their experience, first the two BG presenters and then Kai Hemmioltmanns explained in the seminar room that transporting wheelchair users involves securing the wheelchair and passengers at seven points. After driving into the rear cut-out or positioning in larger vans, you should apply the wheelchair brake and attach the wheelchair at the rear with two retractors and tighten them loosely. They should be aligned in line with the wheelchair, while the two retractors at the front should be anchored in the floor rail as far out to the sides as possible because that holds the wheelchair better in corners. Once that is done, you should release the wheelchair brake and tighten the retractors firmly. Afterwards, the wheelchair brake should be applied again so that the wheelchair does not roll away when released at the destination.

If the wheelchair already has a lap belt, you should ensure it sits correctly on the pelvic bones, as they can absorb the most load. The same applies if you have to fasten a lap belt anchored in the vehicle. Since you may have to touch the passenger during this procedure, especially in the tight vehicles with a rear cut-out, you should definitely explain what you are doing to avoid misunderstandings.

That also applies to the final securement step, fastening the diagonal shoulder belt. It must pass over the passenger’s shoulder to be effective. Under no circumstances may it be routed over the armrest or the wheels; it must always run close to the body behind the armrest. The lap belt and the diagonal shoulder belt together act as a kind of “split three-point belt” and are therefore comparable as a restraint system to the conventional three-point belt of standard seats.

Some wheelchair manufacturers mark the rigid frame points where wheelchairs without a docking-point system may be secured with a hook symbol. Because driving services deal with a wide variety of wheelchairs, they should ask their clients, such as facilities for people with disabilities or the parents of schoolchildren, whether their wheelchairs are approved for transportation in vehicles, the three experts advised. The same applies to headrests on wheelchairs, which, as medical products, have no protective effect but may not be removed. All the more reason to point out the high protective effect of head-neck supports, even though they are not mandatory anywhere. They prevent whiplash injuries in a rear-end collision, which can cause severe health impairments and high downstream treatment costs. The four wheelchair specialists shared many other practical tips at the seminar, about which taxi heute will report in detail in the November issue.

BG Verkehr has been holding such wheelchair seminars twice a year for several years, in spring and fall. You can already register for both dates next year (April 3–5 and October 22–24, 2024).

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Wheelchair taxi seminar: AMF-Bruns presents Crafter combi prototype

News from 11.10.2023 by Dietmar Fund

The prototype of the VW Crafter with the new system floor and side trim from AMF-Bruns can already be ordered in Apen. It is also the subject of a project with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

The wheelchair taxi converter AMF-Bruns from Apen has built a prototype of a VW Crafter with a high roof that could form the basis of combi conversions that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles did not want to build in-house and still does not. The model is based on a glazed panel van with a factory-orderable combi package. In addition to glazing, this includes a headliner and a rather basic side trim where some painted areas are still visible. AMF-Bruns replaces that with its own, more appealing gray interior trim. In addition, there is the newly developed, lighter second generation of the Smart Floor system floor. In the Crafter prototype it allows a bench seat to be installed for the first time. The headliner with climate duct installed in the prototype can alternatively be ordered from the factory in a somewhat simpler version.

Previously, AMF-Bruns and other converters had to use the unglazed panel van as a base and glaze it first. This step has now been eliminated.

While you can already order the AMF-Bruns Crafter combi in Apen, a “project” with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is still underway. As part of it, the manufacturer is examining whether to make the Crafter combi orderable as part of a “single-invoice transaction.”

The background to the development is that the original plan to have Crafter combis built in the Bus Modification Center at MAN’s former bus plant in Plauen in the Vogtland region could no longer be pursued because MAN sold the site. MAN, as is well known, is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group.

The prototype was presented by Kai Hemmioltmanns, Head of After Sales Hubmatik and training manager at AMF-Bruns, and his technical consultant Jens Specketer. The two presented the prototype and a VW Caddy Maxi 5 with rear entry, seven seats and the “Future Safe” head-neck support to the roughly 20 participants of the seminar “Staying safe and healthy while transporting mobility-impaired persons.” It took place from October 10 to 12, 2023 at Hotel Speckhausen in Schmellinghausen in the Sauerland region and was organized by BG Verkehr. All participants there had the opportunity to carry out the securement of wheelchairs and wheelchair users systematically themselves and also to be secured in a wheelchair themselves once.

Taxi heute will publish a report on the informative seminar in the November issue.

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Wheelchair taxis: The long Renault Kangoo keeps us waiting

News from 05.09.2023 by Dietmar Fund

The French are presenting the Grand Kangoo at the IAA Mobility, but it won’t be orderable until the end of 2023 and will be delivered at the beginning of 2024. Conversion to a taxi or rental car remains uncertain.

After a first presentation of the rough body shape of the Renault Kangoo panel-van combi with a long wheelbase at the Commercial Vehicles IAA in fall 2022 in Hanover, it took another year for Renault to present the new Renault Grand Kangoo at the IAA Mobility on September 5, 2023. It will, however, only be orderable at the end of 2023. The first deliveries are scheduled to start at the beginning of 2024.

Like its short counterpart, which still cannot be converted into a taxi or rental car due to the continued lack of a distance signal, the up-to-seven-seat Grand Kangoo is available with gasoline and diesel engines as well as a battery-electric drive. While there is a turbo gasoline engine with 96 kW/130 hp with either a 6-speed manual or a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, the turbo diesel with 70 kW/95 hp is available only with a 6-speed manual. That will likely rule it out for most taxi and rental operators.

The battery-electric E-Tech variant produces 90 kW/122 hp and offers 245 Nm of torque. Its 45 kWh battery is quite small. It provides a range of only 265 kilometers measured according to the current WLTP cycle. You can extend the range in Eco mode, where power is limited to 56 kW/75 hp and top speed to 110 km/h. Recuperation can be set in three stages via the selector lever. A heat pump is intended to save power when air-conditioning the interior.

At least you can charge at AC charging stations with 22 kW, which is quite rare. The maximum charging power of 80 kW at DC fast chargers is rather low by today’s standards.

The seven individual seats in a 2-3-2 configuration all slide and can be folded, sunk into the floor or removed completely. The sliding doors, widened by 21.5 centimeters compared to the short wheelbase, make it easier to access the third row. The Grand Kangoo is offered in three trim levels.

The Grand Kangoo was developed jointly with Mercedes-Benz, like the Kangoo. A few months ago, the brand with the star had already told taxi heute on request that the problem with the distance signal, which Renault had not supplied until then, was said to have been resolved. Whether you can already convert the Citan into a taxi or rental car is something interested parties should best ask their dealer about.

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Vito wheelchair taxi: Workshop offers a second A/C check

News from 29.08.2023 by Dietmar Fund

After an intervention with Mercedes-Benz Sales Germany, the Freudenstadt Mercedes workshop is offering operator Markus Schmid a renewed inspection of his air-conditioning system and is considering handling it under the taxi goodwill policy.

As recently reported, Hornberg taxi and rental operator Markus Schmid criticized that the Möhrle dealership in Freudenstadt, after a severe loss of performance of his A/C system, did not want to submit a goodwill request before a renewed, time-consuming and chargeable inspection. He asked taxi heute to obtain a statement from Mercedes-Benz Sales Germany (MBVD) in Berlin. It is responsible for sales and service questions from the taxi and rental car industry.

The press spokesman responsible for Mercedes-Benz there replied that the workshop regrets the poor impression the customer gained of the Mercedes-Benz service. An inspection of the refrigerant circuit for leaks can indeed take several hours, especially on vehicles with rear climate control. The workshop therefore again offers the customer to come by for a thorough leak test.

Literally, it says: “If the customer gives us the time for another inspection, a cause for the loss of refrigerant will also be found. If there is a finding, the operation can submit a goodwill request. As a rule, the costs are covered under the taxi goodwill; the only exception with this low vehicle age and mileage would be clear customer fault (e.g. accident damage), or a defect caused by a bodybuilder (ABH).”

Markus Schmid wrote that as soon as confirmation regarding cost neutrality is available, he will arrange another appointment with the workshop.

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Wheelchair taxis: Lower Saxony operators must negotiate individually

News from 28.08.2023 by Dietmar Fund

The Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) has terminated agreements on transporting wheelchair users who cannot transfer. Companies must therefore now conclude individual agreements with the health insurers.

The Taxi and Rental Cars Association of the Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) terminated the last agreements with health insurers in Lüneburg and Cloppenburg regarding the transport of wheelchair users who cannot transfer as of June 30, 2023. Previously, framework agreements applied that were worse than those individual operators could negotiate.

Therefore, since July 1, “all companies in Lower Saxony are independently responsible for drawing up and concluding individual contracts with health insurers in the area of non-transferable wheelchair transports.” In the area of seated non-emergency patient transport, however, the GVN framework agreement still applies. The association pointed this out in its circular of August 28, 2023.

Members were advised in the circular to submit a copy of the vehicle registration certificate Part I, proof of the current general inspection, and the current permit certificate to the insurers for billing. Anyone who does not submit these documents in time will have no basis for billing.

The association also notes that AOK rates are often accepted by other insurers. Anyone who has already reached an agreement with AOK should present it during negotiations with other insurers.

Whether the Taxi and Rental Cars Association should negotiate a new framework agreement for transporting non-transferable wheelchair users is still open, Stephen Schubert said when asked by taxi heute. He is the association’s managing director.

Apparently it is difficult for the state associations and their specialist associations to reach uniform agreements in this area. For a long time, Martin Kammer, CEO of the Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry (LTV), also pushed for uniform tariffs for patient transports for wheelchair users. His association is now on the verge of negotiations with the insurers on this topic.

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Vito wheelchair taxi: No goodwill on missing refrigerant

News from 15.08.2023 by Dietmar Fund

A taxi operator from Hornberg criticizes that his dealer did not want to submit a goodwill request for repairing the apparently leaking A/C system on his Vito.

On a Mercedes-Benz Vito 116 CDI converted into an inclusion taxi, Hornberg taxi operator Markus Schmid noticed a severe loss of performance of his A/C system two and a half years after first registration in December 2020. The Möhrle GmbH dealership in Freudenstadt attributed that to a major loss of refrigerant. The operator, however, suspected that a fill port might not have been properly sealed, allowing refrigerant to escape over this period. He demanded that the dealership submit a goodwill request.

However, it wrote the following to him: “A goodwill request regarding the low refrigerant level in the A/C system could not be submitted because no leak in the system could be detected. A goodwill request can only be submitted if a component is defective or leaking. With A/C systems, there is also the possibility of a loss caused by operation or even non-operation of the system, which is not eligible for goodwill.”

The dealership offered Schmid to carry out another inspection, which would be time-consuming and which he would have to pay for if it showed there was no leak. He grudgingly paid the bill for the repair but asked taxi heute to obtain a statement from the manufacturer.

The editorial team immediately asked the press spokesman at Mercedes-Benz Sales Germany responsible for this. He replied that the workshop regrets the poor impression the customer gained of the Mercedes-Benz service. The aforementioned inspection of the A/C system took place under great time pressure, unfortunately, as the customer originally did not come for that but for a maintenance appointment and had to take the vehicle back immediately. An inspection of the refrigerant circuit for leaks can indeed take several hours, especially on vehicles with rear climate control. The workshop therefore again offers the customer to come by for a thorough leak test.

Literally, it says: “If the customer gives us the time for another inspection, a cause for the loss of refrigerant will also be found. If there is a finding, the operation can submit a goodwill request. As a rule, the costs are covered under the taxi goodwill; the only exception with this low vehicle age and mileage would be clear customer fault (e.g. accident damage), or a defect caused by a bodybuilder (ABH).”

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Wheelchair taxis: New suppliers at Rehacare

News from 24.07.2023 by Dietmar Fund

Alongside established converters such as Activa, AMF-Bruns and API, an Italian and a British supplier of rear cut-outs are also exhibiting in Düsseldorf.

From September 13 to 16, 2023, the Rehacare International trade fair will once again take place at Messe Düsseldorf. The focus of the fair is on services and products for people with disabilities themselves, but in the mobility area, in addition to wheelchair suppliers, vehicle converters for transporting wheelchair users also exhibit there.

As is tradition, several stands of such converters are again located in Hall 6 this year. The Borken-based company Activa Automobilservice is exhibiting various vehicles with the FlexiRamp, which covers the rear cut-out and is therefore important when operating the taxi or rental car without a wheelchair passenger. Activa shares its stand with its kit supplier API. It is not yet one hundred percent clear whether it will also exhibit the liftable rear cut-out from Haag Rehatechnik. Kirchhoff Mobility is exhibiting a conversion of the VW Caddy Maxi 5 with a rear cut-out. It is called “Nivo ProLine” or “Nivo ProLine Comfort” and is available with a one-piece or two-piece access ramp. It can be combined with a Flex/taxi ramp. Altec from Singen will be there with its aluminum access rails and ramps.

Due to the factory vacation at AMF-Bruns, it was not possible in Apen to find out whether Sales Director Stefan Willjes will present anything new for passive passengers at their stand. Udo Späker, marketing contact at mobility manufacturer Kadomo in Hilden, announces a VW Caddy Rolli-In, a vehicle with a rear cut-out. Andreas Zawatzky, managing director of Mobilcenter Zawatzky, is still compiling information material.

Automobile Sodermanns from nearby Wassenberg will in any case also present a vehicle with rear entry. According to Marketing Director Ralf Sontag, Sodermanns exhibits more than 200 conversions at its location. Interested taxi and rental car operators could therefore combine a trade fair visit with a short trip there.

New in Hall 6 are two converters from Italy and Great Britain. Olmeda Special Vehicles S.p.A. was founded in Italy in 1951. Today, in its mobility business unit, it offers vehicles with rear cut-outs, which its electric vehicles business unit also converts in electrified form. The small bus business unit handles conversions of the Fiat Ducato and Iveco Daily transporters. Stellantis brands are the focus at Olmeda.

Allied Mobility from Coventry, England, has existed since 1993 and describes itself as the leading manufacturer of wheelchair vehicles in the UK. The company converts the VW Caddy Maxi and its sibling Ford Tourneo Connect, the Peugeot Rifter and the Ford Tourneo Custom transporter with rear cut-outs.

Both Allied Mobility and Olmeda also provide information on their websites in German about their company and product range. German dealers, however, are not listed on their homepages.

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    Wheelchair taxis: B-Style supplies conversion kit for electric compact high-roof vans

    News from 22/05/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    The rear entry for four models from the Stellantis Group and one from Toyota is designed to leave the battery pack in place and thus not jeopardise the manufacturer’s warranty.

    Dutch converter B-Style is now launching a conversion kit called B-Aktiv for a rear entry in the battery-electric high-roof vans of the Stellantis Group and the Toyota Proace City Electric derived from them. The developers designed the conversion kit so that the battery pack does not have to be removed, moved or lowered, the Dutch write. This keeps the manufacturer’s warranty for the base vehicle intact.

    For the second row of the short wheelbase, B-Style offers two alternatives. One is to retain the standard seats in a 2+1 configuration or with three individual seats. The other is to replace them with two individual seats.

    The wheelchair position, inclined by twelve degrees, is 1,326 millimetres long behind the second row. The height of the entry opening is 1,426 millimetres, the interior height is 1,326 millimetres. The ramp can also be folded so that it covers the floor cut-out, which the Dutch call a “pop-up ramp”. Other converters refer to this, for example, as a “taxi ramp”. Thanks to its aluminium honeycomb structure, the ramp is said to be very light and therefore easy to handle. An optional gas spring could make operation even easier. B-Style uses restraint systems from Braun Ability of Sweden.

    For the third row in the long-wheelbase versions, B-Style offers two folding seats. They make the vehicles seven-seaters as long as no wheelchair passenger is to be transported. The wheelchair position can optionally be equipped with LED lighting.

    B-Style supplies converters with a saw template as part of its conversion kit. It is intended to make the correct cutting of the rear cut-out easier without a lot of measuring. There is also a template for trimming the rear bumper, which at B-Style swings upwards together with the tailgate.

    The conversion kit was designed for the largely identical battery-electric high-roof vans Citroën e-Berlingo Electric, Fiat E-Doblò, Opel Combo-e Life, Peugeot e-Rifter and Toyota Proace City Verso Electric.

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    Wheelchair taxis: RETTmobil 2023 brought little that was new

    News from 11/05/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    The most interesting thing in Fulda was the comparison of four Ford E-Transits that had been converted for wheelchair transport.

    After all the important model series of compact vans and transporters have been renewed and the Ford Transit/Tourneo Custom is not yet at dealers, conversions for carrying one or more wheelchair users have currently reached a certain high-water mark. Hence, at best, only new detailed solutions are appearing. The most important of these were already previewed by taxi heute in issue 3-4/2023. This was made very clear by the visit to RETTmobil 2023 on the opening day, 11 May 2023.

    The most interesting innovation was probably presented by MobiLTEC in the form of a Ford E-Transit L2H2 which, with nine seats, still just complies with the 3.5-tonne limit for the car driving licence. The dealer’s demo vehicle had a particularly light system floor with only four rails, on which, in three rows, two individual seats each of the particularly light Schnierle seat were arranged along the left-hand side wall. Behind the standard sliding door the vehicle has a double step. Its production version is now attached to the C-pillar, as a result of which it no longer protrudes as far into the interior and would also be compatible with Ford’s standard triple seating.

    At the Auto Bayer stand one could also view a Ford E-Transit with a system floor. The vehicle in the L2H3 configuration had no step and, in this form, despite two sturdy grab handles, is unreasonable for schoolchildren or older passengers.

    The third E-Transit was at Tribus in the L2H3 configuration. Because its base is the rear-wheel-drive model, the 78-millimetre-thick, lighter Triflex AIR 2.0 system floor sits significantly higher than in front-wheel-drive variants, which was clearly visible at the entrance. Because this also limits the interior height, you only achieve a standing height of 1.90 metres with the H3 roof height. The multi-purpose vehicle was labelled as a vehicle for 7+1 people or for carrying two wheelchair passengers. The E-Transit was equipped with an electric step from supplier Versa, which Schnierle also installs.

    Swedish company Braun Ability had also brought a Ford E-Transit. It was in the L2H2 configuration and was fitted with the prototype of a multi-stage step. Whether it will come to market manually operated as with MobiLTec or electrically powered could not be learned. A German converter that uses system floors and seats from Braun Ability is DIE Transform, which itself had nothing new to offer.

    Mounted unobtrusively on a diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz Sprinter was the new electrically powered “eTrittstufe” from AMF-Bruns. In a side impact it drops downwards and is intended to prevent the battery packs of electrically powered transporters from being damaged. AMF-Bruns wants to make it standard on all vehicles regardless of their type of drive.

    Czech kit supplier for rear cut-outs, API, together with converter Activa Automobil-Service showed the now finished production solution of an angle-adjustable rear cut-out in a Mercedes-Benz e-Vito. The “FlexiRamp Pro” was developed by Haag Rehatechnik and was presented as a prototype a year ago. The wheelchair passenger is pushed into the vehicle in the normal way via the ramp and secured. Afterwards the passenger position, which would otherwise be inclined to the rear, is electrically brought into a horizontal position. This is more pleasant for the wheelchair user and has the advantage that, despite the short rear cut-out due to the traction batteries, you can also accommodate patients in care wheelchairs.

    Stephan Schwartz from API’s Berlin office showed a completely new option: After securing the wheelchair and passenger, if you fold up the ramp, the wheelchair position automatically moves into the horizontal. Otherwise you would have to initiate the lifting with a button. This solution costs an additional 1,200 euros.

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    Wheelchair taxis: RETTmobil exhibitors are published

    News from 26/04/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    Almost all converters of wheelchair-accessible vehicles who also actively look after taxi and hire-car customers can be found on the exhibitor list of RETTmobil International in Fulda.

    Taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs who are planning to visit RETTmobil International in Fulda can now calmly plan their trade fair visit between 10 and 12 May. The trade fair company has finally put the exhibitor directory on the homepage. Unfortunately, you cannot download it as a PDF file. Because you cannot always rely on the keyword search, taxi heute has combed through the alphabetical list and came across the following exhibitors who could be of interest to the mobility sector:

    AAT Alber Antriebstechnik GmbH (stair climbers)

    Activa Automobil-Service GmbH (rear cut-outs)

    Alphadynamik GmbH & Co. KG (steps and ramps)

    AMF-Bruns GmbH & Co. KG (rear cut-outs, system floors and steps)

    API DE GmbH (kits for rear cut-outs)

    Autohaus Bayer GmbH (wheelchair-accessible vehicles from Ford)

    Braun Ability Europe GmbH (system floors, seats, lifts and ramps)

    Autohaus Siebrecht GmbH (wheelchair-accessible vehicles from Opel and other Stellantis brands)

    DIE Transform GmbH (rear cut-out and system floor)

    Emil Frey Fleet / DVI Mobile GmbH (system floors, multi-purpose taxis)

    European Van Service GmbH (system floors, multi-purpose taxis)

    Haberl Electronic GmbH & Co. KG (distance pulse adapters for taxis and hire cars)

    Hermann Schnierle GmbH (seating systems and wheelchair restraint systems)

    Kienzle Argo GmbH (accident data recorders, camera systems)

    Mobility Reha / MR Service GmbH & Co. KG (system floors, seating systems, multi-purpose taxis, steps)

    MobiLTec GmbH (rear cut-outs, system floors, multi-purpose taxis)

    MobiTEC GmbH & Co. KG (rear cut-outs, system floors, multi-purpose taxis)

    MPC Software GmbH (software for dispatching and medical transport billing)

    opta data Gruppe (medical transport billing)

    Schoon Fahrzeugsysteme (system floors, multi-purpose taxis, rear cut-outs, ramps and lifts)

    Speedsignal GmbH Automotive (distance pulse adapters and taxi alarm systems)

    Tribus B.V. (system floor, seating systems, wheelchair anchoring)

    The list is without claim to completeness and without guarantee. In contrast to previous exhibitions, Kirchhoff Mobility is the only larger converter not represented in Fulda this year.

    After the visit on the first day of the fair, taxi heute will report online and in issue 5-6/2023 on the innovations that are important for taxi and hire-car businesses.

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    Wheelchair taxis: Accessible transport needs an incentive

    News from 24/04/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    Because of the high financial, staffing and organisational effort, wheelchair taxis only pay off after a long time. This was reported by a practitioner from Grupe Fahrservice GmbH at an event on inclusion taxis in Bamberg.

    Due to an ageing population, more and more people are in need of care and are potential customers for wheelchair taxis. However, the surcharges for them are still far too low in many taxi fare ordinances to cover the effort associated with wheelchair taxis for procurement, operation and, last but not least, driving staff. With a surcharge of 10 euros according to the taxi fare ordinance, wheelchair taxis are hardly interesting for self-pay customers for Grupe Fahrservice GmbH from Bad Grund in Lower Saxony. With its 16 wheelchair-accessibly converted VW Caddy Maxi taxis, the company depends more on medical transport tariffs, for which the company has agreed a basic flat rate of 27 euros including the first 8 kilometres driven with the health insurers under individual special agreements. This was reported by Jan-Otto Jacobs, operations manager at Grupe Fahrservice GmbH, on 22 April 2023 at an event on inclusion taxis at the Catholic boarding school Aufseesianum in Bamberg. He spoke there as a lecturer on behalf of the Landesverband Bayerischer Taxi- und Mietwagenunternehmen e.V., Taxi-Zentrale Nürnberg eG and Taxi München eG.

    In addition to the vehicle purchase, which must be factored in for inclusion taxis, Jacobs named the increased effort for finding suitable personnel and preparing them for their responsible work as a key aspect. He said he had had positive experiences here with employees with migration experience, because in transporting wheelchair users, conversation is not the main focus.

    Wheelchair vehicles cause increased effort in dispatching, because they often cover longer distances and must also be kept free for return trips. Therefore, you have to keep an eye on demand throughout the day and cannot deploy them as flexibly for other trips as normal taxis.

    According to the speaker, his company puts the additional time required per wheelchair transport at an average of 20 minutes or around 6.45 euros including ancillary costs for the employer. At present, his company pays a gross wage of 13 euros per hour, which is actually almost immoral, Jacobs said. The health insurers even assume only the minimum wage of 12 euros, although in his view an hourly wage of 14 to 16 euros would be more appropriate.

    The practitioner calculated for the interested participants that, with use of a wheelchair Caddy with an 8,000 to 10,000 euro conversion over four to five years and lower resale values than a VW Touran, an average of 1.4 wheelchair trips per day or 415 wheelchair transports per year would be necessary for refinancing. “At this average, there is still no extra profit compared to a regular taxi trip and thus no incentive for a company,” Jacobs made clear. With 8,000 trip orders per month, around 10 per cent are wheelchair trips, but 50 per cent of the fleet has to be kept available for them. “We therefore have to create an incentive for barrier-free transport. Our wish is nationwide funding for the conversion in connection with an adjustment of the remuneration structures of the health insurers to cover the additional personnel effort,” explained Jacobs.

    The sample calculation referred to the average of all wheelchair taxis. In addition to them, Grupe Fahrservice GmbH also operates exempted services, which are calculated quite differently. The company has seven operating sites in the Harz region. It operates 32 taxis, half of which are set up for wheelchair transports. Of 18 vehicles for exempted services, 8 are set up for transporting wheelchair users.

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    Wheelchair taxi surcharge is hard to push through

    News from 24/04/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    A board member of the Würzburg taxi co-op had to argue hard and hopes that he will soon get approval for a base fare of 20 euros for trips with wheelchair taxis.

    As a rule, city councillors reject a surcharge for a wheelchair taxi in the taxi fare ordinance or set it too low. Therefore, the taxi fare ordinance in Würzburg has so far only included a large-capacity surcharge of 7 euros, which may also be charged for wheelchair taxis. Therefore, Taxi Würzburg eG submitted a fare application in April 2022 that provided for a wheelchair taxi surcharge of 20 euros. However, they were quickly made to understand that the entire taxi fare would then be rejected because the surcharge would be seen as discrimination against disabled people. For this reason, the taxi co-operative was forced to remove this component from its application. This was reported by Holger Klier, who has been one of the two board members of the co-operative since 2003, on 22 April 2022 in Bamberg at an event on inclusion taxis. The Landesverband Bayerischer Taxi- und Mietwagenunternehmen e.V. organised it together with Taxi-Zentrale Nürnberg eG and Taxi München eG.

    Klier reported that in September 2022 there was a round-table discussion with the city’s social councillor, the head of the General Office Services department, the inclusion officer, the disability advisory council and a district representative. This group initially spoke out against a surcharge and instead in favour of funding of 8,000 to 10,000 euros for vehicle conversion.

    The taxi co-operative then explained how it arrived at the 20 euros surcharge. “We argued with the size of the vehicle and the high effort involved in handling the ramp and securing the passenger,” reported Holger Klier. “Loading would be paid because the taximeter is already running, but not unloading, where returning the ramp takes around 12 minutes. For that we would have had to charge 7.20 euros analogous to passenger-related waiting time.” The co-operative also budgets two euros per trip for the maintenance and TÜV inspections associated with the wheelchair conversion. Finally, five euros were also factored in for the longer blocking time in dispatch compared with a normal taxi.

    “That is how the city representatives understood it,” explained the co-op board member. “We also explained to them that the transport services of aid organisations such as the Workers’ Samaritan Federation or the German Red Cross are not available at weekends. In addition, disabled passengers during the week must reckon with long advance bookings and have no flexibility whatsoever.”

    Unfortunately, the city has since only subsidised a single wheelchair taxi with 10,000 euros, whereas five entrepreneurs would have liked one, the Würzburg resident summed up. They had been verbally assured that the base fare of 20 euros would come, but it has not yet been implemented.

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    A wheelchair taxi converter lifts the lid on a secret

    News from 23/04/2023 by Dietmar Fund

    Not just at RETTmobil from 10 May, but already at the inclusion taxi meeting on 22 April 2023 in Bamberg, MobiTEC showed its trade fair novelty for the VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out.

    How to make a VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out as a seven-seater even more flexible was shown by Harald Damaschke, founder and managing director of the Berkheim converter MobiTEC, on 22 April 2023 at the Catholic boarding school Aufseesianum in Bamberg. The Landesverband Bayerischer Taxi- und Mietwagenunternehmen e.V., Taxi München eG and the organising team of Taxi-Zentrale Nürnberg eG had put together there a meeting on wheelchair-accessible “inclusion taxis” for interested parties from all over Germany.

    Damaschke presented swivel-folding seats from a new Turkish supplier, which, like the second generation of the head/neck support from AMF-Bruns, were arranged to be adjustable on rails. This means the head/neck support can not only be carried folded to the side when fully seated as a seven-seater, but also used in several positions when a wheelchair user is to be transported. Since the swivel seats in the third row are not needed in such a case, they can also be moved forward accordingly.

    MobiTEC is for the first time not using the usual swivel-folding seats from Dutch converter TriBus, but those from Turkish manufacturer Sege. Among other things, it also builds passenger seats for buses and minibuses and driver’s seats for special vehicles. The new solution only became possible through the installation of the Future Safe 2 head/neck support from AMF-Bruns, because unlike the first generation it no longer requires an upper attachment point.

    Another new detail was a belt buckle directly on the ramp. If you hook the retractor there, you have it right at hand at the foot of the ramp before securing the wheelchair and do not have to fish it out of the depths of the rear cut-out.

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    Electric wheelchair taxis: Weight is the issue of the day

    News from 08/11/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    Because payload is very tight on 3.5-tonners with battery-electric drive, converter AMF-Bruns wants to offer its system floor and single seats in lighter form shortly.

    With the battery-electric Ford E-Transit, taxi and hire-car operators who want to transport several wheelchair users at the same time had hoped to be able to use a 3.5-tonner with electric drive. After range, which should now be sufficient for planned trips to sheltered workshops, the weight issue is now arising. The 3.5-tonne gross vehicle weight limit to be observed for driving with a car licence limits the number of seat or wheelchair positions.

    “With electric vehicles, kerb weight is the issue of the day,” said Gerit Bruns, managing director of the Apener converter AMF-Bruns, at the European Taxi Fair in Essen. “We are therefore working flat out on our new Smart Floor, which we want to bring to market in the first quarter of 2023.” The new system floor will probably weigh 38 per cent less than before, which within the 3.5-tonne limit would allow one more seat than previously. Also in 2023, new seats are to come whose weight, including seat base, will be under 15 kilograms altogether.

    As Gerit Bruns also reported, all new electric vans such as the new E-Ducato are only to come as panel vans and not as glazed combis. Therefore, it will remain the case that converters will have to glaze the electric panel vans and trim their walls and roof as in a combi.

    Also in the works, according to Bruns, is a new electrically extending step for battery-electric vans. The solution, which he did not want to go into further detail on yet, will be such that vehicle manufacturers consider it uncritical. Apparently, manufacturers are extremely afraid that such a step could damage their batteries, which on all electric vans are mounted under the load floor between the axles. For this reason, converter MobilTec from Bingen presented a mechanical solution at RETTmobil 2022, which swings inwards but takes up space inside.

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    Wheelchair taxis: District considers alternative to surcharge

    News from 26/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    An investment funding guideline could replace the recently increased wheelchair surcharge of seven euros in the district of Stade and in neighbouring districts, which taxi operators consider too low in relation to their additional effort.

    According to the Kreiszeitung Wochenblatt of 23 September 2022, there are efforts in the district of Stade to abolish the wheelchair surcharge increased to 7 euros in the recent taxi fare hikes altogether. It was criticised by disability associations, the Left Party group and the Greens, who insist on inclusion (as reported by taxi heute).

    As the paper reports, the responsible councillor of the district is considering granting taxi companies a one-off investment grant for the purchase of a wheelchair-accessible vehicle instead of reimbursing wheelchair users for individual trips. For this purpose, an investment funding guideline could be adopted that would allow the payment of such grants to taxi companies. According to the article, the district of Cuxhaven had so far considered reimbursing the surcharge from the social budget, for which the councillor from Stade saw no legal basis. She now wants to coordinate with the neighbouring districts.

    The Left Party group had already advocated a subsidy solution several times in the Stade district council. Most recently, it had requested for the meeting on 13 September 2022 to withdraw the wheelchair surcharge of 7 euros and instead set up a fund to support taxi companies in acquiring wheelchair taxis. The motion also states that a comparison with large-capacity taxis is not permissible because those ordering such vehicles can choose which vehicle they want to be transported in, whereas wheelchair users cannot.

    At the next district council meeting on 4 October 2022, the Left Party group wants to raise the issue again and submit another motion.

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    Wheelchair taxis: Tribus presents seat-occupancy detection

    News from 20/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    At the IAA Transportation, Dutch converter Tribus demonstrated its Passenger Safety Check system, which also warns of incorrect wheelchair securing.

    A monitor for mounting on the dashboard and sensors integrated into the single seats and wheelchair anchorages that transmit signals via Bluetooth are the components of Tribus’s seat-occupancy detection. The Dutch specialist in system floors and components that make vans flexibly usable presented its system as “Passenger Safety System” at the IAA Transportation, which began on 20 September 2022 with a press day.

    On a display piece featuring the latest version of the TriflexAir 2.0 system floor with single seats and flush-mounted wheelchair fixings in the floor, the company showed that the system also includes an indicator in the floor itself for correct wheelchair anchoring. Red illuminated strips run along both walls. If they light up continuously, everything is fine. But as soon as a securing device is not correctly engaged, the light strip on the side where something is wrong flashes.

    As for the seats, drivers are shown on a display which of the seats are occupied and whether the passengers on the occupied seats have fastened their seatbelts. If someone sits on a seat, it is shown in red. As soon as the person fastens the belt, the display switches to green. If the batteries in the sensors are weak or another fault occurs, the driver is also notified.

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    Iveco dealer shows Fiat E-Scudo conversion to wheelchair taxi

    News from 20/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    Although Fiat Professional was not represented at the IAA Transportation, an Iveco dealer from Mannheim showed a wheelchair taxi based on the Fiat E-Scudo that MobiTEC had converted.

    Mannheim’s Iveco Süd-West Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH sees a market for wheelchair-accessibly converted, battery-electric vans among transport services. It therefore had a Fiat E-Scudo fitted with a long rear cut-out at MobiTEC in Berkheim, which it presented at the IAA Transportation. This was reported by Fiat customer adviser Deniz Boyraz, who looked after the stand together with sales manager Andreas Obst. Obst knows Harald Damaschke, the company’s founder and managing director of MobiTEC, very well.

    As Viktor Ermantraut from MobiTEC reported while preparing the exhibit on the press day, the tub of the E-Scudo is exactly the same as that of its combustion-engined siblings. It can be combined with both battery sizes available, 50 or 75 kWh. It is 1,690 millimetres long and 865 millimetres wide. The cut-out can be combined with a taxi ramp that covers it when not in use, as well as with up to four swivel/folding seats.

    MobiTEC also converts the comparable vans from the Stellantis Group and its cooperation partner Toyota with the same rear entries, regardless of the type of drive.

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    Renault subsidiary Customize converts wheelchair taxis

    News from 20/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    At the IAA Transportation, a Renault Kangoo with rear entry was shown that is already sold in France as a complete vehicle and as a kit for converters.

    In France, Renault converts special vehicles such as those with rear entries at the factory through its subsidiary Customize. It showed a current high-roof compact van of the Renault Kangoo type with a rear entry and a wheelchair position at the IAA Transportation. In the second row, instead of the standard three-seat bench, a folding single seat is installed on the left in the direction of travel. Optionally, a “Duo package” or a “Trio package” with one or two further folding single seats can be ordered.

    A mount is recessed in the floor for the middle seat. When you fold it forward, you get the space for the wheelchair user. On a trip without a wheelchair passenger, you fold the anchorage up out of the floor and lock the middle seat on it. Similar designs are also used by German converters.

    The vehicle was presented by Sebastian Hagen, who looks after Customize conversions at Renault Deutschland AG in Brühl, previously known as Renault Tech. According to him, Renault supplies both fully converted wheelchair vehicles and conversion kits for converters in France. This is also planned for Germany.

    When the longer wheelbase in the passenger car versions of the current Kangoo, which is more interesting for taxi and hire-car use also as a wheelchair vehicle, will follow could not be said by Hagen.

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    Wheelchair surcharges: District with interesting taxi fare

    News from 12/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    Since this summer, the district of Heidenheim has had a taxi fare that elegantly paraphrases the surcharge for wheelchair taxis.

    After an increase in the taxi fare on 1 July 2022, the district of Heidenheim approved a further adjustment effective 1 September 2022. The district administration, in coordination with the taxi companies, drew up a fare that provides for a “cost-covering increase”, according to a press release from the district office.

    The Heidenheim taxi fare ordinance contains a passage that is interesting in the course of the discussions currently being held in some regions of Germany on the introduction or increase of a “wheelchair surcharge”. In Paragraph 3 on fares, Section A on base prices contains the following nice wording: “Base price when using (regardless of the group of persons) a specially equipped vehicle or a specially converted vehicle: €15.40.” The minimum fare including one increment is €15.50. The Heidenheim wording therefore does not explicitly refer to wheelchair transport.

    According to the central press and public relations office of the Heidenheim district office, this wording has existed since the taxi fare ordinance of 1 July 2022. Compared to that, the minimum fare was increased from €13.50 to €15.40 on 1 September 2022.

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    For the youth taxi, the wheelchair surcharge is to be dropped

    News from 08/09/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    The district of Kleve plans higher subsidies for its Night Mover 2.0 and the elimination of the wheelchair surcharge, which the administration is to bear in future.

    The transport committee of the Kleve district council unanimously decided to increase the subsidy for the “Night Mover 2.0” youth taxi from six to eight euros. In addition, the extra surcharge of eight euros that young people travelling in a wheelchair have had to pay so far is to be abolished. The district of Kleve is to cover it. The district council still has to approve this on 29 September 2022. This was reported by the local editorial office of the Neue Ruhr Zeitung (NRZ) on 5 September 2022.

    The wheelchair surcharge was previously charged for the use of special equipment such as ramps or lifts. It is now to be dropped in order to grant young people who use a wheelchair the same rights as all other young people. In the course of this inclusion debate, many discussions are currently taking place, especially in Lower Saxony, in connection with fare applications that provide for an increase in wheelchair surcharges (as reported by taxi heute). The taxi and hire-car association of the Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) argues there in favour of appropriate surcharges, but also explains that the higher acquisition and operating costs of special wheelchair vehicles could also be covered by grants for their acquisition. In this respect, it is an interesting approach that the district of Kleve will probably bear the surcharge itself.

    The Night Mover 2.0 concept has been based on an app since December 2019, which replaced paper tickets in June 2020. The subsidy for the youth taxi is available to young people between 16 and 26 years of age living in the district of Kleve for the journey home or to a destination within the district on the nights from Friday to Saturday, Saturday to Sunday and before public holidays. The trip may also start beyond the district boundary and must be booked with 25 taxi companies listed by name in the app.

    The “Night Mover” project was launched by the district of Kleve back in 2000. Interested readers can view or download the list of the 25 participating taxi companies as a PDF file in the download area of this report.

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    Bamberg taxi fare retains double-digit wheelchair surcharge

    News from 17/08/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    The taxi fare ordinance that has been valid since August 2022 contains only the wheelchair surcharge that has been in place since 2016.

    In recent weeks, daily newspapers across the country have been reporting on newly introduced and mostly increased taxi fares. Among the articles were also those that addressed the new Bamberg taxi fare. It has been in force since 1 August 2022 and also contains a wheelchair surcharge—and thus an element that disability associations in northern Germany have recently attacked heavily (as reported by taxi heute 8-9/2022).

    The “taxi fare ordinance” of the city of Bamberg dated 11 July 2022 includes a wheelchair surcharge of 10 euros. It applies to “the use of a vehicle that can be accessed by wheelchair by a passenger who is dependent on transportation in such a vehicle”.

    According to Michael Fiegl, chairman of the Bamberg taxi co-operative eG, this surcharge has existed since 2016. It has remained unchanged since then. His co-operative applied for an increase this year, but the city of Bamberg rejected it, he wrote in response to an enquiry from taxi heute.

    Interested readers can find the new Bamberg taxi fare ordinance on pages 55 to 58 of the attached official bulletin as a PDF file. It can be downloaded in the download area of this report.

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    Wheelchair taxi converters exhibiting at Rehacare

    News from 10/08/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    Eight well-known companies are presenting themselves at the public fair, which also provides information on transporting people seated in wheelchairs.

    After the RETTmobil trade fair in Fulda and before the European Taxi Fair in Cologne in November, taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs can get comprehensive information on wheelchair transport at Rehacare International in Düsseldorf from 14 to 17 September 2022. Traditionally, this public fair in the mobility sector is geared primarily towards self-drivers but also addresses the transportation of people who have to sit in a wheelchair and cannot be transferred. What new size and weight trends might be expected for wheelchairs and whether there are new developments in terms of securing passenger and wheelchair can also be found out in Düsseldorf in a single hall.

    In the hall designated for this, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will exhibit as the supplier of the currently most popular high-roof compact van with rear entry. The converters exhibiting in alphabetical order are Activa, AMF-Bruns, API, Braun Ability, Kadomo and Kirchhoff Mobility. At the API stand, Claus Haag is also exhibiting, who acts as a development partner for the Czech kit supplier for rear cut-outs. He wants to present a Mercedes-Benz eVito with a raisable rear cut-out if possible. Due to currently long delivery times for electric motors and electric vehicles, this is still uncertain.

    The fair is open from Wednesday to Friday between 10 am and 6 pm and on Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm.

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    Wheelchair taxis: AMF-Bruns now also manufactures in Edewecht

    News from 20/07/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    The wheelchair taxi converter has taken over the hall and a large proportion of the employees of former competitor Reha Automobile Bad Zwischenahn, but not the company itself.

    Apener converter AMF-Bruns has expanded its production capacity with a hall just over two years old in Edewecht, where Reha Automobile Bad Zwischenahn had worked until recently. AMF-Bruns made a takeover offer to the employees of the operation, which the majority, eight of them, accepted.

    From mid-July 2022, production stations for rear cut-outs and conversions of the campervan, which AMF-Bruns has recently been building on the basis of the Ford Tourneo Custom and will soon even exhibit at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, were set up in the hall.

    According to company boss Gerit Bruns, his company deliberately only took over the hall and not the company Reha Automobile Bad Zwischenahn. Since completely different parts had been used there, AMF-Bruns would not have been able to carry out service and warranty work on vehicles built by the team of the deceased young company boss Markus Pacholke. AMF-Bruns should therefore not be understood as the legal successor to Reha Automobile Bad Zwischenahn but has merely expanded its production capacity with the Edewecht location. As it is a pure production site, there will no longer be a showroom there.

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    Rotenburg district council approves surcharge for wheelchair taxis

    News from 05/07/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    To the annoyance of the disability advisory council, the new taxi fare includes a surcharge of seven euros per trip, which annoys the GVN regional chairman for quite different reasons.

    On 23 June 2022, the district council of the district of Rotenburg (Wümme) decided by a majority to change the taxi fare ordinance with effect from 15 August 2022. In addition to adjusting the fares to the multiple increases in the minimum wage and the general rise in prices, it introduces a “wheelchair surcharge”. It may be levied for transporting passengers who are transported while seated in a wheelchair and cannot be transferred to a passenger seat.

    For this wheelchair surcharge, the Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) had applied for 15 euros in its application submitted on 15 March 2022 to change taxi fares. The proposal that was ultimately adopted unanimously is based on a recommendation by the consultants Linne + Krause with the seven euros decided. They recommended charging a surcharge “provisionally” in the amount of the increased large-capacity surcharge, which also stands at seven euros. The consulting firm had previously updated a report presented in March 2020 and submitted it on 22 April 2022.

    The taxi fare was last increased on 1 February 2015. It was jointly set by the districts of Cuxhaven, Osterholz, Stade, Rotenburg (Wümme) and Verden. Whether they will implement the fare increase at the same time and also introduce the wheelchair surcharge still has to be decided separately. According to the “Kreiszeitung”, this decision has already been made in the districts of Verden and Osterholz and is still pending in the district of Cuxhaven.

    The latter is confirmed by Stefan Gödeke from Loxstedt, regional chairman of the taxi and hire-car association in the Gesamtverband des Verkehrsgewerbes Niedersachsen (GVN). He considers the proposed 7 euros to be an “impertinence” and hopes that the district of Cuxhaven will adopt a wheelchair surcharge of 15 euros. “If the 7 euros come, I won’t drive for that, because we have long been charging 15 euros for our hire cars,” he told taxi heute on request. “They are paid without batting an eyelid because the passengers are happy that they can be mobile at all times.” Gödeke is particularly annoyed by consultant Thomas Krause, who was not receptive to any argument and fails to recognise that with his recommendation he is counteracting the GVN’s attempt to introduce a nationwide, viable wheelchair surcharge.

    The introduction of the wheelchair surcharge promptly met with protest from the district’s disability advisory council, as several regional daily newspapers reported. In its report, Linne + Krause points out that a wheelchair surcharge of 15 euros is already being levied in Göttingen. In the districts of Diepholz and Northeim, 10.50 euros are charged, in Hildesheim and Nienburg 5.00 euros.

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    Tribus converts E-Ducato into wheelchair taxi

    News from 04/07/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    After the VW e-Crafter and the MAN eTGE, the Dutch manufacturer is also converting the Fiat E-Ducato because of its higher range.

    Dutch converter Tribus has already converted the VW e-Crafter and its twin MAN eTGE into a transporter for several wheelchair users with a system floor, single seats and a rear lift. Because their range is very tight, Tribus is now turning to the new Fiat E-Ducato, which can also be ordered with a 79 kWh battery.

    Because the weight of 3.5-tonners has long been a major issue for wheelchair transport, Tribus is installing the second generation of its system floor in the E-Ducato with its heavy batteries. It is called TriflexAIR 2.0 and is said to be significantly lighter than the first generation. While initial field tests with the new floor system have already been completed, the final specification of the Fiat E-Ducato is still pending. Tribus is not yet giving any details on possible ranges. Fiat’s current price list also contains no information on this.

    The Italians’ electric transporter can so far only be ordered as a glazed panel van in lengths L2H2 and L4H2. That is in any case the common basis for conversions that use system floors and a rear lift to turn it into a multi-purpose vehicle for wheelchair transport.

    Interested readers can download a price list for the base vehicle Fiat E-Ducato as a PDF file in the download area of this report for initial orientation.

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    Wheelchair taxis: Trade fair Rehab could be worthwhile

    News from 06/06/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    At the Karlsruhe fair, a few well-known converters for carrying passengers seated in a wheelchair are also exhibiting.

    From 23 to 25 June 2022, the Rehab trade fair will take place at the Karlsruhe exhibition centre. It is aimed primarily at visitors with disabilities, but also covers the topic of mobility. There, in addition to conversions for self-drivers, there are also conversions for transporting people who sit in a wheelchair.

    The exhibitors at Rehab include the following converters who also and in some cases exclusively deal with transporting wheelchair users: EDAG Werkzeug & Karosserie GmbH, Haag Reha Engineering GmbH & Co. KG, handicap mobil GmbH, Kirchhoff Mobility GmbH & Co. KG, Mobilcenter Zawatzky and MobiTEC.

    For taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs from south-west Germany who are interested in innovations in the wheelchair sector, a trip to Karlsruhe could be worthwhile. There, one could also obtain information from the stands of wheelchair manufacturers about their securing options, where a lot is amiss.

    The fair is open on Thursday and Friday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, on Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. A ticket costs 10 euros online and 15 euros at the box office, the parking ticket 5 euros.

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    Wheelchair taxis: AMF-Bruns shows Opel Combo-e Life as seven-seater

    News from 04/05/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    At RETTmobil, the converter is presenting, instead of a VW Caddy Maxi, an electric competitor that can be used flexibly.

    At the RETTmobil trade fair in Fulda, taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs who also want to carry passengers seated in a wheelchair can view the high-roof van Opel Combo-e Life XL with a rear cut-out from AMF-Bruns. It is 810 millimetres long and thus has the same dimensions as on the previous combustion models. The battery is moved slightly, but its capacity remains unchanged. The conversion is DIN-compliant, has been crash-tested at 20 g and has a European type approval, the Apeners reported on 4 May 2022.

    In this vehicle, the original second-row seat bench remains in place with all its functions. For the third row, two swivel/folding seats can be ordered. With them, the Combo-e Life becomes a seven-seater. Because the wheelchair taxi always has an “EasyFlex” ramp that covers the wheelchair cut-out, the five- or seven-seater can also be used with a large or larger boot. Installation of the head/neck support “Future Safe”, which is now required by many clients, is also possible. Then, however, you have to do without one of the two swivel/folding seats. The vehicle will also be exhibited in this configuration in Fulda.

    At RETTmobil, AMF-Bruns is showing a prototype. The vehicle is scheduled to be available from September 2022.

    MobiTEC from Berkheim, by the way, is also showing a conversion solution for the Opel Combo-e Life and its siblings from Citroën, Peugeot and Toyota at RETTmobil.

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    Road Safety Day focused on wheelchair taxis

    News from 23/04/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    At the 3rd Road Safety Day of the Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V. and SVG Baden, securing wheelchairs and wheelchair users and riding in a wheelchair were once again the main topics.

    After a long break due to the pandemic, Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V. and SVG Straßenverkehrsgenossenschaft Baden invited participants to the 3rd Road Safety Day in Offenburg on 23 April 2022. This time it was held on a large car park rented at Messe Offenburg. The fair also kindly provided an adjacent car park where the catering tent and beer tables could be set up. There was also enough space for the parked taxis and hire cars of the 74 participants.

    Most of them arrived early this year, so the SVG instructors Thomas Zehnle and Bernd Maier formed several groups after a short introductory round. As in previous years, participants could practise handling on a cornering course and then head for a skid area at full throttle to practise emergency braking.

    As dealing with passengers seated in a wheelchair and their securing were once again the focus, this time a few VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out and a wheelchair position were again on display. However, striking was the large number of transporters offering more than one wheelchair position. Their drivers, for example in the Ford Tourneo Custom and Ford Transit Custom, had their hands full steering their large special vehicles through the cone chicane with the help of the exterior mirrors and the tips of the moderators.

    For many it was an experience to sit in the back of a transporter in a wheelchair and feel what forces act on the wheelchair passenger in the event of an emergency stop—even with correct securing. In the theory block, the moderators, with the support of Mariecarmen Kraus, the new second chairwoman of IG Taxi Ortenau, informed for the first time about handling a child’s wheelchair. She had brought her daughter and her grandson Noah as a wheelchair passenger.

    The lively grandma had also prepared delicious tiramisu, while Bettina Schmid and one of her sons served coffee after coffee and cold drinks at the counter. For lunch there were frankfurters. For this service, participants could put something in the box for the Child Accident Aid. A total of €351.20 was collected, which will go 100 per cent to the aid organisation.

    The two moderators had new tips on securing wheelchairs and wheelchair passengers and also emphasised new aspects of ergonomics in the vehicle. You can read a detailed report on the event in issue 6-7/2022 of taxi heute.

    IG Taxi Ortenau and SVG Straßenverkehrsgenossenschaft Baden will offer a second Road Safety Day with the same focus on 10 September 2022, again between 7 am and 5 pm.

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    Wheelchair taxi converter makes system floor lighter

    News from 16/03/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    Dutch converter Tribus has revised its system floor, which is said to have become up to 35 per cent lighter.

    As always, in vehicles for transporting several wheelchair users, the weight of the components installed for this purpose is crucial. This problem has been exacerbated by the already heavy, electrically powered base vehicles that are now coming onto the market. That is why Dutch wheelchair taxi specialist Tribus has fundamentally revised its system floor after ten years. It is now called “TriflexAIR 2.0” and, thanks to lightweight construction, is said to be up to 35 per cent lighter than the original floor.

    The new floor has been tested in the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Crafter according to the highest safety standards and has M1 type approval. Other makes and models are to follow later this year.

    The first minibuses with the new floor are now being tested by customers. If the test phase runs successfully, series production is to start in June, Tribus says.

    The company will be informing about the new system floor for the first time at a stand at RETTmobil in Fulda in May. As before, it has integrated fastening elements for single seats and securing wheelchairs and wheelchair passengers.

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    Wheelchair taxi fair RETTmobil sees all signals on green

    News from 23/01/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    The organiser of the blue-light fair, which is also important for wheelchair taxis, considers itself able to react to all coronavirus developments. The fair is fully booked.

    Preparations for the blue-light fair and wheelchair taxi platform RETTmobil International, which is to take place from 11 to 13 May 2022 in Fulda, are proceeding according to plan. According to Manfred Hommel, the fair’s managing director, the overall concept of the fair regarding hygiene regulations is set up in such a way that the organisers “can react immediately to virtually all developments”. Therefore, “all lights are on green” from the fair company’s point of view.

    More than 400 exhibitors from 25 countries had confirmed. The fair has therefore been “actually fully booked” for some time. Nevertheless, enquiries from potential exhibitors are still coming in several times a week.

    RETTmobil International was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Traditionally, all well-known converters of vehicles for wheelchair transport exhibit there. Which ones these will be this year, the fair company will shortly display on its website.

    As in previous years, taxi heute has once again firmly planned a report on the fair.

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    Activa: VW Caddy Maxi 5 wheelchair taxis with new ideas

    News from 11/01/2022 by Dietmar Fund

    In the Caddy Maxi 5, the rear cut-out can be combined with the standard seats in the third row. The operation of the ramp and the lighting of the cut-out are new as well.

    Borken-based wheelchair taxi converter Activa Automobil-Service GmbH offers three variants with different lengths of rear cut-outs for the VW Caddy 5 model series. All cut-outs have a usable width of 81.5 centimetres.

    In the Caddy 5 with short wheelbase, the cut-out is 144 centimetres long. It is likely to be more suitable for transport services that have regular orders for only one wheelchair user plus a companion. For the Caddy Maxi 5 with long wheelbase, which is more in demand among taxi and hire-car operators, Activa offers the “L cut-out” with a length of 133 centimetres and the “XL cut-out”, which in turn is available in two lengths: Length 1 at 136 centimetres and Length 2 at 171 centimetres. With this longest length, space for care wheelchairs is obtained by folding the second-row seat bench.

    All cut-outs are covered by a ramp called “FlexiRamp”, which, thanks to the “ZeroEffort” technology, is said to be operable with little force. New is a new lighting concept for all ramps, which is activated when the ramp is opened and closed.

    Because the Caddy Maxi 5 is also often used at weekends as a multi-purpose vehicle with seven seats, Activa has developed a new alternative to the fairly expensive TriFlex swivel/folding seats with which the rear cut-out is normally built over in such cases. It is now possible to use the two individual seats of the standard equipment with a folding console underneath for this purpose as well. They are mounted on the console without tools, but must be removed for transporting a passenger in a wheelchair. The console is then folded to the side.

    Important for entrepreneurs who need a replacement vehicle and are plagued by delivery times: Activa Automobil-Service has ordered 140 VW Caddy 5 and VW Caddy Maxi 5 for various conversions. In the past, the company has repeatedly converted a tranche of vehicles and thus kept its vehicle construction busy and was therefore able to deliver quickly.

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    MobiTEC launches app to configure wheelchair taxis

    News from 24/11/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The Berkheim converter now offers an app that can be used to put together transporters with system floors as wheelchair taxis.

    Berkheim wheelchair taxi specialist MobiTEC now offers its customers an app with which they can pre-configure vehicles for transporting mobility-impaired persons (KMP) before they have a consultation. The “KMP vehicle configurator” can be downloaded free of charge from the app stores in the Android and Apple worlds. A link has also been set up on the homepage. It can be found in the main news items, which can be clicked through at the top left.

    With the app, you can first select a base vehicle from manufacturers ranging from Citroën to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and then choose a specific wheelbase. Vans between Bulli size and 3.5-tonners are offered. Afterwards, for some makes and types you can select how many longitudinal rails you want. Using small pictograms, you can then click on wheelchairs or electric wheelchairs and place them on the floor. A whole range of different seats are also available. A head/neck support can be selected for side mounting or for mounting on the floor and dragged into the image. After taking into account a lift with a rigid or folding platform or planning a ramp, you can save the design and then receive a code with which you can view and edit your individual configuration at any time. MobiTEC checks the configuration for feasibility. It can then form the basis of a consultation.

    The Berkheim converter implemented the app together with partner IT-Engineering Reith run by Thomas Reith from Langenau. According to its homepage, the company develops apps for medium-sized businesses and the public sector.

    Setting up a similar configurator also for vehicles with rear cut-out, which also have very different seating configurations, is already being considered according to company founder Harald Damaschke. However, before that, the MobiTEC FlexVans—panel van conversions for small escapes from everyday life—should first be installed.

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    Wheelchair taxi converter MobiTEC also makes campers mobile

    News from 18/11/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    In cooperation with a Nissan dealership, the converter is also building a FlexVan based on its system floor.

    The camper boom during the coronavirus pandemic has also prompted wheelchair taxi specialist MobiTEC from Berkheim to offer a van conversion for small escapes from everyday life based on its system floor. It is called the “FlexVan Camper” and was initially created on the basis of the Nissan NV300, an offshoot of the original Renault Trafic and a close relative named Fiat Talento. This was reported by Viktor Ermantraut, who is responsible for marketing and had read a similar report about competitor AMF-Bruns’s “Smarttourer Campervan” (reported by taxi heute).

    Up to four single seats can be mounted on the Lightfloor behind the optionally rotating front seats. A kitchen module can be fitted behind the driver’s seat and a cabinet module with space-saving roller shutters can be fitted in the rear. A bed module for installation in the rear with a cabinet underneath makes overnight stays possible. Thanks to the rails in the system floor, leisure sports enthusiasts can also take bicycles or even a moped along in mounts. Wheelchairs and wheelchair users can of course also be secured and restrained as in wheelchair taxis. MobiTEC is currently further developing this concept with contour-adapted modules for the new generation of compact vans from Stellantis, i.e. for the Opel Zafira Life and the corresponding models from Citroën, Peugeot and Toyota.

    Additionally, MobiTEC offers a kitchen and bed module for installation in the rear under the name “FlexVan Camper Light” that does not have vehicle-specific contours. It can therefore be used in any van that has the necessary interior width.

    These modules could be of interest to taxi and hire-car operators who provide school transport and are set up for wheelchair passengers via a system floor. During school holidays or during breaks at support facilities, they could swap such a module for the seats.

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    Wheelchair taxi specialist AMF-Bruns goes big on crash testing

    News from 16/11/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The Apener converter has put an independent research and development centre into operation, where components in body-in-whites are also dynamically tested for external clients.

    About 35 metres long is a hall in which wheelchair taxi specialist AMF-Bruns has set up a crash track for dynamic sled tests. It was put into operation in spring 2021 without the planned official opening due to the Covid-19 pandemic. From February to early November 2021, around 110 dynamic tests with up to 20 g were already carried out on the facility. Seats, wheelchairs with dummies and securing devices as well as entire body-in-whites were mounted on the sled. Their spectrum ranged from high-roof vans with rear cut-out to transporters that the company converts into wheelchair vehicles with system floors. This was reported by company boss Gerit Bruns and Malte Kahmann, head of the test centre, during a visit by taxi heute on 11 November 2021.

    The new test track is driven by a cylinder with compressed air of up to 220 bar, which is generated and stored in the next room. During a test run, the €75,000 dummies, which are always temperature-controlled, are accelerated abruptly and subjected to a force of 20 g for a few milliseconds to test the effectiveness of the securing devices and their anchorages. A hydraulic cylinder then brakes them again. Thanks to very bright arrays of LED lamps and high-speed cameras, the tests can be documented and evaluated in great detail. They form the basis for European type-approvals, which AMF-Bruns may grant together with TÜV Nord.

    The company had previously carried out its dynamic tests at an external partner in Aschaffenburg. As they now run next to the prototype workshop and another workshop located directly adjacent, the developers can react very quickly to errors and improve parts. The static tests, which were already carried out in-house, were further improved in the course of the conversion into the new research and development centre and are now carried out in the prototype hall. Around 188 static tests were carried out in 2021 up to the beginning of November.

    In the prototype hall, separate bays with separate entrances are still planned in order to be able to build and test prototypes for various external customers. The entire test centre is structurally separated from the production halls opposite on the factory site for transporters with system floors and for “small vehicles”, as high-roof vans with rear entry are called at AMF-Bruns. In addition to them, the converters in Apen also manufacture seat frames, lifts, ramps, loading rails and steps themselves and install Smartfloor system floors from their Dutch subsidiary.

    Gerit Bruns and his sales manager Stefan Willjes emphasise that AMF-Bruns develops standardised and tested solutions for wheelchair transport, even though the customer spectrum in Apen also ranges from individual orders from private customers to larger numbers of vehicles for large transport services. What advantage this corporate philosophy offers customers will soon be described in a detailed report in taxi heute.

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    Stuttgart promotes wheelchair taxis with dedicated stands

    News from 18/08/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    In consultation with the local taxi trade, a total of 17 exclusive stands for wheelchair taxis are to be set up.

    The Baden-Württemberg state capital Stuttgart is already one of the few cities that financially supports the purchase and/or operation of wheelchair taxis. However, only four such vehicles have been converted with its funding to date and a total of only seven of them are on the road in Stuttgart and the region to the south around the airport. The city therefore wants to encourage more taxi companies to purchase such vehicles by setting up a total of 17 exclusive stands for “Rolli taxis” distributed throughout the city.

    These stands were selected in consultation with the local taxi trade, the city administration reports. The locations range from northern suburbs to the south, have a focus with three places in the city centre and also cover the east, Bad Cannstatt and the satellite town of Neugereut in the northeast. In its press release, the city administration points out that wheelchair taxis can also be ordered via the Taxi-Auto-Zentrale if none is waiting at the stand.

    Subsidies for the purchase of further wheelchair taxis can still be applied for, including those for smaller vehicles, the city writes. This means models that can carry fewer than four passengers including the wheelchair user. This lower limit had applied to date. Stuttgart wants to subsidise up to twelve wheelchair taxis in total. 95 per cent of the net conversion costs or a maximum of 10,000 euros per vehicle are subsidised. The wheelchair taxis must be kept for at least four years. In addition, the drivers deployed must complete special training.

    There is similar funding in Berlin. Hamburg, on the other hand, only subsidises inclusion taxis with electric drive but does not pay the entrepreneurs the full amount of the subsidy at the beginning, instead distributing it over several years of operation (reported by taxi heute).

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    Free Now wants to advance wheelchair taxis in Berlin

    News from 12/07/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The app dispatcher wants to double the number of available wheelchair taxis to 50 by early 2022.

    Free Now, the mobility joint venture of BMW and Daimler, wants to at least double the number of bookable wheelchair taxis in Berlin from today’s 25 by early 2022. Talks with Berlin taxi companies are already being held, the company said. According to a study by the Technical University, a total of 250 “inclusion taxis” would be needed to be able to meet spontaneous ride requests by wheelchair users.

    According to Free Now, the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSO) subsidises equipping a taxi with a wheelchair ramp with 15,000 euros. However, these funds can only be called up until the end of 2021.

    Alexander Mönch, general manager for Germany and Austria, would like to advance the improved participation of mobility-impaired people with a sort of round table, as the situation is currently at an impasse. The initiative should best be taken by transport senator Regine Günther. Mönch sees the activities of Hamburg as a model for Berlin, based on which Free Now recently announced that it wanted to broker barrier-free taxis nationwide via its app.

    With the press release of the app dispatcher, Martin Maubach of the Sozialverband Deutschland – Landesverband Berlin-Brandenburg once again got his say. He has long been complaining at every opportunity that there are far too few taxis in the federal capital that are equipped for disabled people. People with disabilities still cannot be spontaneously mobile. The Berlin Senate has clearly failed to meet its own targets, for example regarding adequate coverage or a maximum waiting time of 15 minutes.

    Mönch again stated that Free Now wanted to make inclusion taxis bookable as a separate service in its app and aimed to offer the service nationwide in Germany within the next two years.

    Interested readers can download a position paper from Free Now as a PDF file in the download area of this report.

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    MobiTEC makes retractors laterally adjustable on wheelchair taxis

    News from 29/06/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The Berkheim converter showed for the first time at the inclusion taxi day in Munich a rail in which retractors can be moved sideways to adapt to different wheelchair widths.

    Harald Damaschke, managing director of MobiTEC, repeatedly comes up with new ideas that make practical handling of wheelchairs easier. Thus, at the inclusion taxi day of Taxi München eG on 26 June 2021, he showed for the first time an aluminium rail on the front edge of a rear cut-out in the VW Caddy Maxi 5 in which retractors can be mounted to slide laterally. This allows their routing to be better adapted to wheelchairs of different widths. These are precisely what taxi and hire-car operators have to reckon with if they transport both children and adults in wheelchairs.

    The rail was installed in a vehicle that MobiTEC now offers as a “Basic” conversion for the VW Caddy Maxi 5. It has only a 1,375 millimetre-long rear cut-out, which allows the original tank under the middle row of seats to be retained. The pretty blue LED chain around the rear cut-out is omitted with it, as is the taxi ramp and the centre part of the bumper.

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    Munich funds wheelchair taxis with clear requirements

    News from 27/06/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    For up to 10,000 euros funding, the social department places value on certain operating hours and equipment.

    The city of Munich subsidises the conversion of vehicles into wheelchair-accessible taxis that can also carry people in powered wheelchairs with up to 10,000 euros per vehicle. The social department wants to enable people who depend on a wheelchair to use taxis spontaneously in particular in the evening or at weekends. The funding is therefore also tied to the requirement that the operating times of the subsidised wheelchair taxis during the four-year or 250,000-kilometre commitment period cover the time span from 18:00 to 24:00 on three weekdays between Monday and Friday. In addition, taxi companies must provide evidence of 500 operating hours per year on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

    Technically, the requirements cover all vehicles with three passenger seats including the wheelchair user that comply with DIN 75078 Parts I and II. “In addition, each wheelchair space in the subsidised vehicle must be equipped with a suitable vehicle-mounted head/backrest,” the funding guideline continues. Since 2020 and until the end of 2022, the city of Munich wants to subsidise a total of 30 wheelchair-accessible taxis.

    The funding guideline and the procedure were explained by Marcus Bauer and Angelika Setzke de Soto from the social department during a presentation of “inclusion taxis” to which Taxi München eG invited on 26 June 2021. Chairman Ertekin Kocer wanted to stimulate the exchange between interested taxi entrepreneurs and the social department experts.

    Kocer had also invited converters AMF-Bruns and MobiTEC, which colleagues from other cities had recommended to him. They presented three converted VW Caddy Maxi 5, an eVito L2 and a Toyota Pro Ace with rear cut-outs and some with head/neck support. A salesman from LEVC dealer Autohaus München had brought a LEVC TX in a friendly black and the Taxi-Center Ostbahnhof displayed its LEVC TX taxi.

    One topic in the exhibition was the eligibility for funding of the “single-invoice vehicle” LEVC TX, because wheelchair taxis are usually sold as “two-invoice vehicles”. Only the invoice from the converter is then decisive for the funding. LEVC salesman Dieter Grünhage said that it was unproblematic to state the share of the wheelchair components on the LEVC TX separately. While the head/backrests required in Munich have been seen for years at relevant trade fairs in typical base vehicles of high-roof vans and transporters, this is new territory for the electric taxi from England.

    As Harald Damaschke from MobiTEC reported, most taxi companies have so far opted to install another seat in the form of a swivel/folding seat in the typical high-roof vans instead of a head/neck support.

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    Wheelchair taxis: AMF-Bruns brings new restraint system

    News from 21/02/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The new restraint system for passengers and wheelchairs is said to take up less space and be lighter.

    Converter AMF-Bruns, which specialises in vehicles for wheelchair transport, has presented the fourth generation of its passenger and wheelchair restraint system. It is now called Protektor 2.0 and is said to be characterised by its compact shape and the particularly flat angle of the retractor belt. This is intended to optimise the force flow from the wheelchair into the vehicle floor. According to managing director Gerrit Bruns, larger wheelchairs can be secured significantly better with the new generation. The new retractors were tested on the in-house crash track, which was recently put into operation and is also available for external use.

    With the new rotary knob, which is said to feel good, the belts can be easily tensioned, the company says. Thanks also to a red lever for releasing the belt, the elements are said to be intuitive to operate. For the design, the Apeners even received a prestigious award.

    On its homepage, the manufacturer shows a professional video that presents the new components in the best light. Unfortunately, an explanatory text is missing.

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    Wheelchair taxi specialist offers online consulting

    News from 20/02/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    Mobilcenter Zawatzky now also offers online consulting to customers who want to convert a high-roof compact van into a wheelchair taxi.

    Will the standard tank be retained when converting my preferred high-roof compact van into a wheelchair taxi with rear cut-out? Does the standard exhaust system have to be modified? Can I cover the rear cut-out with a taxi ramp? Many taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs ask such questions when considering acquiring an inclusion taxi. Mobilcenter Zawatzky in Meckesheim now answers such customer questions online as well, as company boss Andreas Zawatzky announced in his newsletter of 16 February 2021.

    Those who want an online consultation must first fill out a contact form, stating their name, e-mail address and concern. Together with the consultant, a preliminary discussion is then held to clarify the exact concern. At the agreed time, the sales consultant is to contact the customer online. Zawatzky promises that the consultant can also show details of a vehicle via video call.

    The parent company of Mobilcenter Zawatzky is in Meckesheim. There is a branch in Cologne-Buchheim. Kai Rosselnbruch, taxi specialist at Cologne Opel dealer Paul Bauer, also maintains close contact with it. He has the Opel Combo Life converted into a wheelchair vehicle at Zawatzky, which he then, if necessary, has converted into a taxi by Cologne converter Jürgen Weberpals and wrapped externally.

    The company also converts the Ford Tourneo Connect, the VW Caddy Maxi 5 and the relatives of the Opel Combo Life into wheelchair vehicles. From the newly designed homepage, you can easily download brochures as PDF files, all of which only refer to five-seaters.

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    Wheelchair taxis: RETTmobil is postponed to 2022

    News from 05/02/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The blue-light fair, which has also developed into a meeting place for wheelchair taxis and multi-purpose vehicles, will not take place again until May 2022.

    Manfred Hommel, managing director of the RETTmobil International GmbH trade fair, had to cancel this year’s fair in Fulda on 5 February 2021. It was originally scheduled to take place from 5 to 7 May 2021. For a short time, an alternative date in early June was also considered, but that too could not be realised due to the coronavirus pandemic, the trade fair company writes.

    It has now “pulled the rip cord” and postponed the fair to 11 to 13 May 2022. The location Fulda will be retained. Normally, the fair takes place annually. It had already been cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus.

    Vehicles for wheelchair transport will now at most be exhibited this year at the Rehacare International fair in Düsseldorf. It is planned for 6 to 9 October 2021. However, this fair is primarily geared towards self-driving wheelchair users and does not focus on wheelchair transport.

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    Wheelchair taxis: MobilTec plans long rear cut-out for Caddy Maxi 5

    News from 21/01/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The converter from Bingen am Rhein wants to offer the new model as a wheelchair taxi with three differently dimensioned rear cut-outs.

    Not only taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs who want a VW Caddy Maxi 5 with a factory taxi or hire-car package need a lot of patience. Almost all converters of wheelchair taxis are also still waiting for a vehicle on which they can practically verify whether their CAD developments for rear cut-outs can also be implemented down to the last millimetre in practice.

    Among them is the conversion operation MobilTec from Bingen, which only moved into its new production facility in June 2019. Managing director Philip Hammer plans to offer the Caddy Maxi 5 with three differently sized rear cut-outs. With an 851 millimetre wide and up to 1,750 millimetre long “tub”, Hammer wants to offer one of the longest, if not the longest, rear cut-out for this vehicle. In the conversion, the original tank and original exhaust system are to be retained. MobilTec also hopes to manage without the set of parts designed by the factory especially for vehicles with rear cut-out for a modified rear axle, because that too would have an effect on the price.

    Philip Hammer points out to his customers that if they want to use the Caddy Maxi 5 with rear cut-out and two additional seats as a seven-seater, they must order a five-seater from the factory with the preparation for seven seats. They then receive not only the seatbelts for the third row but also an uprating, because otherwise the permissible gross weight would not be sufficient.

    Those who want seven seats and a wheelchair position cannot do anything with the factory seven-seater. Its two additional seats in the third row could no longer be used after the conversion.

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    AMF-Bruns has converted VW Caddy 5 Maxi into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 11/01/2021 by Dietmar Fund

    The Apener converter again offers several variants up to the flexible seven-seater.

    Taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs who want to use a new VW Caddy Maxi 5 as a wheelchair vehicle and do not want to wait for the order release of the factory taxi or hire-car package can have the model converted immediately at AMF-Bruns in Apen. The wheelchair specialists from northern Germany proudly announce that they have succeeded, despite a base vehicle that is ten centimetres shorter, in realising a wheelchair position that is the same size and even more comfortable than before.

    Its rear cut-out is 810 millimetres wide and, as with the predecessor Caddy 4 Maxi, 1,500 millimetres long. The interior height is 1,425 millimetres. The original second-row seat bench remains with all its functions. The original fuel tank is also not modified, so the full tank volume and a correct fuel gauge are retained.

    Those who also want to use the vehicle as a seven-seater as an alternative to wheelchair transport can order a five-seater from the factory and, after installing the rear cut-out, have two swivel/folding seats installed in the third row. For this purpose, the EasyFlex ramp is available as an option, which covers the rear cut-out when folded.

    As an alternative to one of the two swivel/folding seats, the “Future Safe” head and backrest can also be ordered. Also new is the “Protektor 2.0” restraint system for wheelchair users and wheelchairs.

    The last statement from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles regarding the production start of the Caddy Maxi 5 with factory taxi or hire-car package was in December 2020, that it should be built from calendar week 11/2021 in mid-March. The order release was planned for mid-February. Ordering the taxi and hire-car package from the factory is associated with the advantage that the service can recognise the vehicles as taxis or hire cars and they can then benefit from preventive maintenance and product updates.

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    Activa wheelchair taxi Caddy 5 comes with new ramp

    News from 09/12/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The design of the revised Flexi ramp also allows an XL variant for particularly long wheelchairs.

    Borken-based wheelchair taxi converter Activa Fahrzeugbau has further developed the “FlexiRamp” rear cut-out with its Czech ramp supplier for the Caddy 5 series. Its ramp, which covers the cut-out when not in use, is now said to lift slightly at the touch of a button and then fold out with little effort. If the process is interrupted, the ramp remains in position and does not fold back unbraked. Because some parts are now made of aluminium, the converted vehicle becomes 20 to 26 kilograms lighter.

    So far, Activa has only converted the Caddy 5 with short wheelbase. The solution for the Caddy Maxi is, however, in development. Those who need a rear cut-out of normal length in it get the L variant with original tank and original exhaust system. If the vehicle is also to be tailored to particularly long wheelchairs, the converter supplements the L cut-out with half the tub of the S variant for the short Caddy. Activa calls this the XL variant.

    The floor cut-out is now illuminated by LED strips. They are certainly helpful when securing the wheelchair and the wheelchair passengers, who often have to be picked up in the early dark morning hours.

    The converter is again striving for a non-objection certificate from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as with the predecessor models.

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    City of Munich presents first wheelchair taxis

    News from 03/11/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The vehicles subsidised by the city with up to 10,000 euros are now available on three evenings per week and also at weekends or on public holidays.

    On 30 October 2020, the first wheelchair taxis subsidised by the city were presented in Munich. They are now available to wheelchair users on at least three evenings a week until 24:00. They also operate at weekends and on public holidays. This allows citizens with disabilities to take a taxi at short notice, whereas otherwise they would be dependent on aid organisations, where you have to book long in advance and which do not operate in the evening or at weekends.

    The city subsidises wheelchair taxis with up to 10,000 euros. In total, it provides 300,000 euros in subsidies to taxi entrepreneurs who purchase a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. The funding programme started in April 2020. Over a period of three years, ten conversions per year are now to be funded.

    The wheelchair taxi funding goes back to the 2nd action plan for implementing the UN Disability Rights Convention, which the city council decided in April 2019. According to Franz Göppel, spokesman for the specialist working group on leisure and education in the disability advisory council, the fact that many Munich residents had vehemently demanded wheelchair taxis also contributed to implementation.

    Unfortunately, the press office does not say which taxi entrepreneurs are operating the first wheelchair taxis and how they can be booked. Further funding applications can be submitted until 31 August 2022.

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    Wheelchair taxis: VW publishes first price list for the Caddy 5

    News from 21/10/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    Shortly before the market launch of the civilian variants of the Caddy 5 and Caddy Maxi 5, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles published the first price list for the 2021 model year, which, however, offers taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs no more than initial pointers.

    The new Caddy 5 is scheduled to be launched in Germany at the end of November. It is to roll out as a Kombi or Van in the four equipment lines Kombi, Caddy, Life and Style. At the start there is also the Move equipment variant. The LED headlights advantageous for night driving are standard in the top model Style and the Move and otherwise at least available at extra cost. From spring 2021 there is also to be an all-wheel-drive version. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles announced this on 21 October 2020 at the international driving presentation of the series without describing the equipment levels in detail.

    Important for the taxi and hire-car trade: The Caddy Maxi 5, which is much more in demand for use as a seven-seater or as a flexible wheelchair taxi, is only announced for “the coming year” without a specific month or date. Seven seats will be available for both the short wheelbase and the Caddy Maxi 5, as with the old model. New is that the rearmost two individual seats can be removed and thus replace the heavy and bulky bench of the predecessor. In the second row there are now three individual seats that can be removed individually. As before, they can also be folded and rolled.

    The first price list for the Caddy 5 of the 2021 model year, dated 12 October 2021, initially distinguishes the base models Kombi EcoProfi, Kombi, Caddy, Life, Move and Style. It lists only the two 2-l diesel engines with 75 kW/102 PS and 90 kW/122 PS with six-speed manual gearbox, although a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic is also said to be available. Double sliding doors are only included from the third of the six listed equipment levels and Climatronic is only standard on the top model.

    There is still no price list for the Caddy Maxi 5. Among the numerous press photos published to date, conspicuously none show the interior of the Caddy Maxi 5. This suggests that it is not quite finished yet. taxi heute will hopefully find out more at the driving presentation on 26 October 2020 and be able to report immediately afterwards.

    Interested readers can download the first price list for the Caddy 5 in the download area of this report.

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    Wheelchair taxis: Caddy Maxi 5 from MobiTEC with large cut-out

    News from 06/10/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The converter from Berkheim equips the new VW Caddy Maxi 5 with a particularly wide and long rear cut-out and also delivers it as a seven-seater.

    Apparently in response to initial publications about a conversion by Dutch converter B-Style and German competitor AMF-Bruns, Berkheim converter MobiTEC is also announcing a conversion of the VW Caddy Maxi 5 into a wheelchair taxi. It gets a particularly long and wide rear cut-out in the Allgäu. In addition, it will only be available with the FlatFloor solution, in which the floor is inclined by only 1.5 degrees for a comfortable seating position for the wheelchair user. This requires a tank modification.

    The MobiTEC floor cut-out is around 1,680 millimetres long because, for carrying care wheelchairs, it extends as far as under the standard second-row seat bench. To this end, the seat bench mounts, as with the predecessor model, are modified. Greater flexibility when carrying bulky wheelchairs is also promised by the cut-out width of around 865 millimetres. The entry height and the interior height are each approximately 1,450 millimetres.

    There is also a taxi ramp for the new conversion, which covers the floor cut-out as long as no wheelchair user is to be carried. Thanks to the “balance system”, it is said to be operable with little effort.

    MobiTEC also supplies two swivel/folding seats for the third row of a seven-seater. As with other converters, a head/neck support can be installed instead of one individual seat, which still allows for a six-seater.

    When the Caddy 5 and the Caddy Maxi 5 with factory taxi and hire-car equipment can be ordered is currently still unclear. It is rumoured to be shortly before or after the turn of the year. The factory taxi or hire-car equipment is recommended because only then can the vehicle be recognised as a taxi or hire car during service and benefit from special service measures and goodwill for the mobile trade (as reported several times by taxi heute).

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    AMF-Bruns also announces Caddy Maxi 5 wheelchair taxi

    News from 06/10/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    After Dutch converter B-Style, AMF-Bruns also provides details of its conversion of the VW Caddy Maxi 5 as a wheelchair taxi.

    From the sales start of the VW Caddy 5 and the Caddy Maxi 5, AMF-Bruns will also offer it as a wheelchair taxi with a rear cut-out. The Apener converter announced this after Dutch converter B-Style had previously informed about its Caddy Maxi 5 with rear cut-out (reported by taxi heute).

    The Apeners have designed a rear cut-out with a flat wheelchair tub based on the first vehicles of both length variants, which is 815 millimetres wide and 1,500 millimetres long despite the base vehicle’s overall length having shrunk by 10 centimetres. The entry height is 1,450 millimetres. New is an “EasyUse” function of the taxi ramp called EasyFlex, which covers the rear cut-out as long as no wheelchair user is travelling. The ramp is said to be so easy to operate with one hand.

    The original tank remains in place during the conversion. The drivers should thus also be able to rely on the fuel gauge.

    While the original second-row bench with all its functions remains, the Caddy Maxi can alternatively be used as a seven-seater with two swivel/folding seats in the third row. Many entrepreneurs appreciate this option, as they can offer disco rides at weekends. Instead of one of the additional seats, a head/backrest can also be installed.

    According to the converter, the conversion has a non-objection certificate from Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Interested taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs can already obtain quotations from sales manager Stefan Willjes. He is familiar to many wheelchair specialists from AMF-Bruns’s trade fair appearances.

    When the Caddy 5 and the Caddy Maxi 5 with factory taxi and hire-car equipment can be ordered is currently still unclear. It is rumoured to be shortly before or after the turn of the year. The factory taxi or hire-car equipment is recommended because only then can the vehicle be recognised as a taxi or hire car during service and benefit from special service measures and goodwill for the mobile trade (as reported several times by taxi heute).

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    Wheelchair taxis: Ford Transit also comes as a five-tonner

    News from 01/10/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The new variant is also intended for conversion into a minibus or wheelchair taxi and is available with the new 10-speed torque-converter automatic.

    The Cologne company praises the new five-tonne version of its large van as “the most capable Transit Ford has ever offered”. With a gross vehicle weight of five tonnes, it is said to offer up to 2,500 kilograms payload and to roll on a higher-capacity chassis with reinforced rear axle, reinforced brakes and higher load-bearing tyres. The payload is said to be 300 kilograms higher than the previously most capable version.

    The new version is coming to market only with rear-wheel drive and will be available in lengths L2, L3, L4 and L5. It is also a basis for conversion into a minibus under the name Bus M2 (470) or a vehicle for transporting a larger number of wheelchairs as a glazed panel van.

    The five-tonner is powered by the 2-litre diesel engine with 125 kW/170 PS and a maximum torque of 390 newton metres, which is coupled as standard to a six-speed manual gearbox. The new 10-speed torque-converter automatic with adaptive shift strategy is available as an option.

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    City of Regensburg supports wheelchair taxis

    News from 25/09/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    A Regensburg taxi entrepreneur and his hire-car partner have closed a supply gap and received support via the city’s press work.

    In spring 2020, Regensburg city councillor Wiebke Richter, who uses a wheelchair herself, complained in the Regensburger Wochenblatt that wheelchair users in the city would not find taxis suitable for them. This prompted taxi and hire-car entrepreneur Alexander Panfilov and his colleague Christoph Schloder, after talks also with clinics and organisations, to offer vehicles with rear cut-out and wheelchair ramp. In March, the hire-car company PS Fahrservice-Regensburg GmbH, in which Panfilov is a shareholder and managing director and in which Schloder works, procured a VW T6 with a wheelchair ramp, which is registered as a hire car. In August, Panfilov’s taxi and hire-car company followed suit and put a Mercedes-Benz Vito taxi with comparable wheelchair equipment into service.

    The city councillor from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen then organised a press event, for which the city’s press department issued a press release. It was about presenting the two vehicles, which can now be booked around the clock for private trips by wheelchair users in addition to planned medical trips. Also present were the Lord Mayor Gertrud Maltz-Schwarzfischer, the inclusion officer Frank Reinel and his employee Dr. Alexander Krisch.

    The Lord Mayor praised the new offer as further proof of a “solidary, inclusive and mobile Regensburg” that promotes the independence of people with disabilities. The disability officer Frank Reinel explained that the offer finally closed a supply gap.

    The press release also points out that the two companies have specialised in the needs of sick, disabled or older fellow citizens. They will now also carry out trips to cultural or sporting events seven days a week around the clock. They even offer trips with a barrier-free limousine and chauffeur. Taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs can hardly get better free advertising.

    According to the city, around 24,000 people with a recognised disability live in Regensburg. Around 1,600 of them rely on a wheelchair.

    Alexander Panfilov is one of the members of the taxi best-practice group around Nuremberg multi-vehicle operator Christian Linz.

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    MobiTEC brings Combo wheelchair taxi as a seven-seater

    News from 25/09/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The Berkheim converter combines a wide rear cut-out with a taxi ramp and two swivel/folding seats.

    Five seats and a wide wheelchair position or seven seats: this is the choice offered by the latest conversion of the Opel Combo L2 high-roof compact van by MobiTEC GmbH & Co. KG. The Berkheim converter even equips the long-wheelbase variant with an 865-millimetre-wide rear cut-out, which gives taxi and hire-car entrepreneurs more leeway with passengers with wider wheelchairs than the usual cut-outs, which are mostly only 810 millimetres wide.

    More flexibility is also promised by combining this wide cut-out with a taxi ramp, which covers the rear cut-out on the five-seater and makes the boot fully usable as long as no wheelchair user is travelling. Those who then still want a seven-seater to be able to offer disco rides at the weekend, for example, can order two swivel/folding seats for the third row.

    The difficulty in combining the wide rear cut-out with the taxi ramp and the swivel/folding seats lay in modifying certain trim parts so that these individual components could be combined with one another.

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    Wheelchair taxi drivers and instructors exchange tips

    News from 19/09/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The second Ortenau Road Safety Day of IG Taxi Ortenau and SVG Baden was a good exchange for tips on the correct handling of passengers sitting in wheelchairs.

    Loading a wheelchair user correctly, securing and unloading again, and then experiencing a safety training course oneself sitting in a wheelchair: that was the new item on the programme of the second Ortenau Road Safety Day, which Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V. and SVG Straßenverkehrsgenossenschaft Baden organised on 19 September 2020 on the premises of a forwarding company on the northern edge of Offenburg.

    Bernhard Grimm from Taxi Moßmann in Lahr and his local competitor Maricarmen Kraus from Taxi Munz each brought a VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out for this purpose. Kraus made her vehicle with an AMF-Bruns conversion available for the practical exercises. She also accompanied many drivers and gave them tips both on securing the wheelchairs and their occupants and on driving with such passengers on board. Bernhard Grimm was happy to demonstrate the advantages of his Schöttler conversion to those interested.

    Like Kraus and Grimm, Markus Schmid, chairman of IG Taxi Ortenau, does not send any new driver to wheelchair passengers without a personal briefing. He shows newcomers how to correctly secure wheelchairs and wheelchair users. After this exercise, he first rides along himself as a wheelchair passenger and then lets the newcomers take a seat in the wheelchair. He already knew that this changes the driving style, but an emergency stop in a wheelchair was also something new for him. “It throws your arms and legs forward,” he reported afterwards. “There are worlds between sitting on a passenger seat and in a wheelchair. After that, every graduate will approach wheelchair transport differently.”

    Bernhard Grimm pointed out on his newer VW Caddy Maxi LED interior lights above the second row of seats and above the rear entry. However, unlike two LEDs in the tailgate, they must be ordered at extra cost. “You shouldn’t forget that, otherwise you will notice your mistake painfully at the latest when you want to secure a wheelchair user and their wheelchair early in the morning in an area without street lighting,” Grimm said very vividly. He also reported that wheelchair passengers who still have enough strength to hold on praise the sturdy grab handles to the left and right of the rear cut-out that his converter Schöttler had fitted.

    SVG instructor Bernd Maier showed the participants of the training session how to correctly attach a head and neck support. He advised them to use it if it is installed in the vehicle, because otherwise the insurance could cause trouble after an accident.

    You can read a report on the event with further concrete tips in the November issue of taxi heute.

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    Last call for the taxi wheelchair training

    News from 14/09/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    On Saturday, 19 September 2020, IG Taxi Ortenau e.V., with the support of SVG Baden, will again organise a safety training course, which will also focus on the transport of wheelchair users in addition to occupational safety.

    Last chance for last-minute deciders: Markus Schmid, chairman of Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V., reminds us of the safety training for taxi drivers that he is organising on Saturday, 19 September 2020 in Offenburg together with SVG Baden. As in the previous year, it will take place on the site of a forwarding company at the Georg Dietrich Areal on the northern edge of the city. It starts at 7:30 am and runs until 5:00 pm. A special highlight this year, as reported several times by taxi heute, is that it will also focus on transporting mobility-impaired persons.

    In one of two wheelchair taxis provided by Taxi Moßmann and Taxi Munz, participants will practise how to manoeuvre wheelchair users into the taxi, secure the wheelchair and them correctly and unload again at the end of the trip. In the second wheelchair taxi, the wheelchair remains fixed inside and every participant can experience the course from that seat. Everyone will find out there what it feels like when the driver accelerates briskly and steers through a slalom without you being able to do anything about it. “This has repeatedly ensured during my in-company instructions that drivers have changed their driving style,” reports Thomas Zehnle. “You should have this experience again and again.”

    The trainer and occupational safety expert at SVG Baden can convey such things just as vividly as tips on correct seating in the taxi and other aspects of occupational safety and health at the taxi workplace. Catering will again be provided by IG Taxi Ortenau, which mainly means that Markus Schmid and his wife Bettina, possibly supported by their sons, will serve drinks and frankfurters.

    Interested taxi drivers and, of course, the driving staff of hire-car companies can decide for themselves when and for how long they take part. Participants go through the individual stations in rotation. In between, there is enough time to have technical chats with colleagues. Employees of companies from neighbouring regions are also addressed. Membership in IG Taxi Ortenau is not a prerequisite for participation.

    According to master of road transport and safety specialist Thomas Zehnle from SVG, participation counts as an instruction in accordance with Section 12 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which is required at least once a year. Participation, the costs of the drivers’ training ground, the technology and the trainers are covered by the occupational safety support at SVG or membership in the Occupational and Safety Technical Service (ASD) of the BG Verkehr.

    Markus Schmid asks for prior registration (Tel. 0 78 33 / 9 55 89 83) so that none of the participants have to go hungry or thirsty. So far, registrations are going well and it is foreseeable that the event will attract a wider audience than last year. By the way, Thomas Zehnle will again be accompanied by Bernd Maier as the second trainer and the trainee Laura Schmidt, who, according to Thomas Zehnle, “will take care of the paperwork”.

    The cooperation between IG Taxi Ortenau and SVG Straßenverkehrsgenossenschaft Baden on the subject of occupational safety enters its fourth year with the Road Safety Day 2020. A report on the event is planned for the November issue of taxi heute.

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    Road Safety Day focused on wheelchair taxis

    News from 12/08/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    At this year’s Road Safety Day organised by SVG Baden and Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V., the focus is on occupational safety and, for the first time, also on the perspective of passengers seated in wheelchairs.

    After the first date had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Interessengemeinschaft Taxi Ortenau e.V. and SVG Straßenverkehrsgenossenschaft Baden now invite you to the Road Safety Day on Saturday, 19 September 2020. It includes driver safety training, instruction in ergonomics at the taxi workplace and, for the first time, instruction in transporting mobility-impaired persons. As in 2019, the event will take place on the premises of a forwarding company at the Georg Dietrich Areal on the northern edge of Offenburg near the freight station. With it, the cooperation between the two organisers enters its fourth year.

    The event is intended for drivers, and not only for those whose bosses are members of IG Taxi Ortenau. Rather, employees of other companies from other regions can also participate, although this requires a written registration with IG Taxi Ortenau. Participants go through the individual stations in rotation. In between, there is enough time to chat with colleagues. Everyone can decide for themselves when they come and how long they stay.

    According to master of road transport and safety specialist Thomas Zehnle from SVG, participation counts as instruction in accordance with Section 12 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which is required at least once a year. Participation, the costs of the drivers’ training ground, the technology and the trainers are covered by the occupational safety support at SVG or membership in the Occupational and Safety Technical Service (ASD) of the BG Verkehr.

    IG Taxi Ortenau is providing catering. In addition to chairman Markus Schmid, his wife Bettina will again look after the participants.

    If nothing comes up, taxi heute will report on the event.

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    Wheelchair taxis and e-vans: Maxus importer launches in Germany

    News from 04/08/2020 by Editorial team (general)

    What British van maker LDV never achieved with the combustion-engine Maxus models up to its insolvency, SAIC is now catching up on: Maxus is getting an official importer for Germany. Wheelchair converter AMF-Bruns has already been offering one of the electric models.

    SAIC is one of the “estate administrators” of the British Midlands and, after the collapse of MG Rover and LDV, bought up all the remnants of the British Leyland legacy to continue the brands—partly changed (Rover became Roewe, LCV then Maxus)—in China. With Maxomotive Deutschland GmbH, the official importer of the brand has now started operations in Cologne. Behind the company is the Belgian Alcopa group, which has been selling Ssangyong cars on the German market since 2011. In addition to Herman Claes and Didier Vanderperren, the new Maxomotive management also includes Ulrich Mehling, who is responsible for Ssangyong’s activities in this country.

    The first battery-electric Maxus models of the EV80 type were already put on German roads in northern Germany at the beginning of 2018 via start-up Cargomobile. Maxus has expanded its activities through cooperation with Leaseplan.

    The Maxus range is said to focus primarily on battery-electric vans. From now on, the large EV80 is being sold for at least 50,000 euros net; in autumn, the eDeliver 3 (from 35,000 euros net) will start. There is also the diesel-powered Deliver 9 model (from 30,000 euros net). While the EV80 was still derived from the former LDV vans, the eDeliver3 and Deliver9 are new developments. The latter targets the 3.5-tonne segment (also visually) at Ford Transit, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter & Co.—which, however, are also offered as diesel models at very favourable conditions.

    The smaller, electric eDeliver3, which competes against the VW T6 or the Mercedes-Benz eVito, delivers 85 kW and is offered with short and long wheelbase and two battery variants. The choice is between battery packs with 35 or 53 kWh capacity, which should provide ranges of up to 280 or 400 kilometres respectively. The model is said to be capable of fast charging. Accordingly, the CATL-supplied battery should be charged to 80 per cent via DC charging within 45 minutes. The variant with a 2.91-metre wheelbase offers five cubic metres of load volume and a payload of 855 kilograms. The version with a 3.29-metre wheelbase offers 6.3 cubic metres of load volume and a payload of one tonne. The top speed is limited to 130 km/h.

    AMF-Bruns, the well-known converter of wheelchair and multi-purpose vehicles, still offers SAIC’s Maxus EV80 electric vehicle on its homepage as a basis for a nine-seater combi or a vehicle for wheelchair transport. Wheelchair taxi specialist Stefan Willjes has already cast an eye on the upcoming smaller model.

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    Activa Fahrzeugbau pre-produces wheelchair taxis

    News from 12/07/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The Borken converter of a major car dealer wants to be ready with 100 wheelchair taxis of two models for the restart of transport services after the summer holidays.

    Olaf Benning, sales manager of the Borken conversion operation Activa Automobile-Service GmbH, is taking a countercyclical approach to the coronavirus-induced crisis of the transport services. He expects that after the summer holidays, due to distancing rules, smaller wheelchair vehicles in particular will be in high demand throughout Germany.

    In order to be able to deliver immediately then, the company has procured 100 VW Caddy 4 and Caddy Maxi as well as 180 Citroën Berlingo also with short or long wheelbase. While the French models all have a manual gearbox and simpler equipment, the Caddy can also be ordered in part with a DSG automatic. taxi heute reported on the Berlingo conversions in connection with RETTmobil 2019.

    Not all of these vehicles are necessarily to be converted into wheelchair vehicles with rear cut-out, but Benning has already scheduled 50 of them in BTW production. His goal is to have 100 finished and immediately available wheelchair vehicles in stock by the end of the summer holidays. Currently, Activa already has 60 converted Caddy in stock.

    The conversion operation is a subsidiary of the Bleker Group, which started as a major Citroën dealer and initially got in touch with the taxi industry through this brand. The initial “strings” were pulled at the time by Kurt Peters, a long-standing and legendary taxi contact for the German-French brand. Today, the Bleker Group represents ten car brands.

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    AdBlue tanks prevent wheelchair taxi conversions

    News from 14/04/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    According to Berkheim converter MobiTEC, a few base vehicles with diesel engines can no longer be converted into wheelchair taxis after the change to the current Euro 6d-TEMP emissions standard.

    After the change to the Euro 6d-TEMP emissions standard, base vehicles for wheelchair taxis with rear cut-out that are diesel-powered also require AdBlue for exhaust gas treatment. The installation of the additional tank required for this can stand in the way of a rear cut-out for transporting wheelchair users. Berkheim wheelchair taxi specialist MobiTEC points this out on its website.

    As can be read there, this affects the Renault Kangoo and the Mercedes-Benz Citan derived from it, the Dacia Dokker and the Ford Grand Tourneo Connect. Due to the position of the AdBlue tank, all diesel versions of the Kangoo, the Citan and the Dokker cannot be converted until further notice. This is only possible with the petrol engines. It is a little different with the Grand Tourneo Connect: while it cannot be converted with the standard AdBlue tank, you can order it with a small AdBlue tank. Then it is convertible, albeit at an additional cost.

    With the Citan and the Kangoo, the problem affects both wheelbases and the Ford is only convertible with a long wheelbase anyway. The Dokker, in turn, is only available with one wheelbase.

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    Wheelchair taxi mecca RETTmobil is cancelled

    News from 16/03/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    Because the fair in Fulda has fallen victim to the coronavirus, taxi heute will present the latest wheelchair taxis in issue 5/2020.

    In Fulda, the 20th “blue-light fair” RETTmobil was to take place from 13 to 15 May 2020, which always brings interesting innovations for wheelchair transport. This anniversary now falls flat. “Due to the order of the Hessian authorities, RETTmobil 2020 is hereby cancelled,” it says curtly and without further explanation on the fair’s homepage.

    In previous years, taxi heute has already used the fair as a “hook” to report on all new vehicles and new accessories for wheelchair transport. The latest products from converters who did not have a stand at the fair were also queried.

    The editorial team will therefore again compile all the “spring innovations” of the conversion industry for issue 5/2020.

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    National Taxi Association seeks Rolli goodies

    News from 16/03/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    The Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) has asked the Federal Association of Taxi and Hire Cars to query possible support for wheelchair taxis nationwide.

    Which cities, municipalities and districts subsidise the conversion of vehicles suitable for wheelchair transport, grant allowances for trips with wheelchair taxis, or support them with other measures? The GVN’s Passenger Transport Association has asked the Federal Association of Taxi and Hire Cars to gather this information nationwide. The association informed its members of this request in its circular dated 10 March 2020.

    The association considers some form of funding necessary because wheelchair-accessible vehicles are more expensive and need to be refinanced. Without subsidies, their availability will remain limited, which would exclude wheelchair users just as much as higher fares would if they had to pay them themselves. For this reason, the association argues that wheelchair journeys should be seen as a task for society as a whole, requiring support from the state and taxpayers.

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    Pellenz now also subsidises wheelchair taxis

    News from 20/01/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    Like young people and seniors, wheelchair users can now take taxis with a 50 percent subsidy.

    Since 13 January 2020, wheelchair users have been able to travel within the Verbandsgemeinde Pellenz by wheelchair taxi with a 50 percent subsidy, capped at 8 euros per trip. The administration has concluded a corresponding agreement with Mario Rassuli, owner of the taxi firm Taxi Döhrn from Weißenthurm.

    The company operates five taxis with rear entry that can take one wheelchair user plus four accompanying passengers. Taxi Döhrn also has a "Rollibus" for four wheelchair users and four accompanying passengers, according to the municipality’s press release.

    It also states that the taxi company’s team accompanies passengers to their homes or into a doctor’s practice. If needed, the driver will wait during the doctor’s visit at no extra cost.

    All non-transferable wheelchair users residing in the Verbandsgemeinde are eligible, with no age limit. Existing half-price rides under the youth taxi scheme apply between ages 16 and 21, and under the senior taxi scheme from age 70.

    The discounted wheelchair taxis can be booked with Taxi Döhrn by phone or email. Passengers fill out forms downloadable from the homepage or available in the taxi. The taxi company settles monthly with the municipality. "We first want to gauge demand and are starting with Taxi Döhrn, but we are open to additional providers with suitable vehicles," Stephan Ristow told taxi heute. He heads the division responsible for the half-price taxis in the Verbandsgemeinde. Although Taxi Döhrn is not based in the municipality, that is also the case with some partners in the senior and youth taxi schemes.

    "Taxi operator Mario Rassuli is actively promoting the wheelchair taxi himself," the division head reported. "Many passengers were still unaware of his Rolli taxis and only found out through our press release."

    Interested readers can download the municipality’s form, which applies to all three subsidised half-price taxi schemes, as a PDF from the download area of this report.

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    City of Heidelberg points to first Rolli taxi

    News from 20/01/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    With a press release, the city administration and its disability commissioner publicly announced the first wheelchair taxi.

    Enabling people who rely on a wheelchair to participate more actively in public life is an issue that should be of far greater interest to taxi and private hire operators in both urban and rural areas. Those who offer such a service receive support from disability commissioners and the city administration. This is demonstrated by the example of the first wheelchair taxi in the city of Heidelberg. The administration even organised a press event and issued a release.

    According to the release, Erika Ochoa Coll, Managing Director of TLS Transfer & Limousinenservice GmbH, together with her operations manager Swen Buro, presented their first wheelchair-accessible taxi, a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect with rear entry, on the Kornmarkt on 16 January 2020. Also present for the photo call were Lord Mayor Prof. Dr. Eckard Würzner, Czeslaus Mandalka, Deputy Chair of the Advisory Board for People with Disabilities of the City of Heidelberg, the municipal disability commissioner Christina Reiß, and Carola de Wit from the city’s Citizens and Public Order Office. The release states that the two women jointly initiated the project.

    The administration circulated the message that even non-transferable wheelchair users with electric wheelchairs can now book a wheelchair taxi at short notice at times when transport services are usually unavailable – especially in the evenings, on weekends or public holidays. The Mayor explained that with TLS, the city had found "an experienced provider" who is now closing "an important supply gap." According to Carola de Wit from the Public Order Office, a report will now determine further demand for wheelchair taxis in the city.

    The city explicitly encourages wheelchair users to book the wheelchair taxi in good time. Otherwise, it will also be used for regular trips, which is necessary to keep the extensively converted panel van utilized. The wheelchair taxi can only be booked via the hire-car company’s phone number. The taxi tariff does not foresee a wheelchair surcharge. Unlike, for example, Stuttgart, the City of Heidelberg does not support the project with an investment grant.

    According to Swen Buro, the incentive for procuring a wheelchair taxi was that the City of Heidelberg had long ceased issuing new taxi permits. One challenge was that, due to the elimination of the local knowledge test for hire cars, TLS first had to find drivers willing to obtain it.

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    Rolli taxi specialist builds new test centre

    News from 10/01/2020 by Dietmar Fund

    In summer, AMF-Bruns plans to inaugurate a new R&D centre in Apen.

    The converter AMF-Bruns, specialised in wheelchair transport, plans to conduct its own tensile tests and safety-relevant tests on components, products and conversions at a new test and development centre at its Apen site. It will also be available to testing organisations, vehicle manufacturers and bodybuilders. To that end, the Rolli specialist has founded AMF-Bruns Forschungs- & Entwicklungsgesellschaft and is cooperating with TÜV Nord.

    Ten employees will primarily operate a dynamic and a static test facility in the new building. Beyond developing wheelchair tie-down systems, system floors and lifts, it could also be used for the development of seatbelt systems and child seats.

    TÜV Nord is to be involved as a technical service for European type approvals and test documentation. The new centre will also offer R&D services to other companies.

    After the opening, expected in July 2020, taxi heute will report on the new test centre.

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    Taxi roundtable on Rolli regulations

    News from 07/11/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    On 14 November 2019, IG Taxi Ortenau e.V. will discuss, among other things, an AOK contract for wheelchair transport.

    On Thursday, 14 November 2019, IG Taxi Ortenau e.V. will hold its next taxi roundtable. It begins at 7:30 p.m. at Gasthaus Brünnele in Offenburg.

    The agenda includes a wheelchair contract with AOK Baden-Württemberg, a taxi tariff application in cooperation with neighbouring districts, and, to round off, a "pre-Christmas year-end gathering." As always, Chair Markus Schmid also welcomes interested parties from other districts who work in passenger transport.

    Schmid already has his eye on IG Taxi Ortenau’s traditional VW taxi roundtable, usually held at the end of January. The likely host in January 2020 is again Autohaus Graf Hardenberg, whose sales manager is currently coordinating the date with the taxi contacts at the Volkswagen and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brands.

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    Zawatzky converts the Opel Combo Life XL into a Rolli taxi

    News from 05/11/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    Mobilcenter Zawatzky offers Opel’s long panel-van-based MPV at a "fighting price" – in Cologne, together with Opel-Bauer, also as a taxi.

    Starting at 22,120 euros (excl. VAT) for the 100 hp petrol version, Mobilcenter Zawatzky in Meckesheim and its Cologne branch, in cooperation with Opel-Bauer, offers the Opel Combo Life XL Edition including conversion to a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. Thanks to three standard single seats in the second row, the Combo can be used with four passengers and one wheelchair space. If the wheelchair space is not needed, the converter installs an inward-folding "taxi ramp" that then covers the floor, creating a spacious boot. Zawatzky also installs a new 42-litre fuel tank.

    The rear cut-out can be used along its full length of 150 centimetres thanks to the longitudinally sliding seats in the second row. With the seats pushed back, it still offers a length of around 126 centimetres. Interior height is 140 to 144 centimetres, the entry height 142 centimetres.

    The undivided ramp itself is 130 centimetres long. Usable ramp width is around 77 centimetres, while the cut-out is around 81.5 centimetres wide. According to Andreas Zawatzky, this gives the wheelchair’s wheels some play when reversing out, preventing them from jamming.

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    Municipality of Eschede pays for Rolli taxi at the station

    News from 03/08/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    With a small co-payment, wheelchair users can take a wheelchair taxi from platform to platform at the station.

    Since late July 2019, the municipality of Eschede has supported wheelchair users at the station with a special service: They can travel in a wheelchair taxi operated by local taxi company Groth from one platform to another because there are no lifts. The taxi has to drive around the station and over a level crossing, which would normally be costly.

    Thanks to the municipality of nearly 5,800 inhabitants in the Celle district, wheelchair users only need to present their severely disabled person’s ID and pay a co-payment of 1.50 euros. The treasurer covers the rest, with whom the taxi company settles monthly.

    The service is also available to all citizens who cannot manage stairs on their own, including blind people. Since the station stairs have rails that passengers with prams consider practical, the offer does not apply to them.

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    Mercedes-Benz Van Rental offers wheelchair taxis for rent

    News from 20/05/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    The subsidiary Van Rental now rents Sprinter Mobility with system floors that can be flexibly configured with single seats and wheelchair tie-downs.

    At Mercedes-Benz Van Rental, around 50 Sprinter Mobility vans can now be rented short-term or for up to 24 months. They are characterised by a wheelchair-friendly conversion by certified VanPartner AMF-Bruns. It equips them with a Smartfloor system floor into which up to six single seats can be anchored for wheelchair trips or up to five wheelchair spaces can be set up. At the rear, the vehicles have a linear lift and at the side door an electrically powered step to overcome the Sprinter’s relatively high entry. Where no wheelchair user is riding, up to eight passenger seats are also possible.

    The rental offer is initially tied to around 120 existing rental locations, located not only at branches but also at Mercedes-Benz dealers.

    As AMF-Bruns Managing Director Gerrit Bruns notes on the occasion of the cooperation, rental offers in this area have been scarce. Indeed, only taxi and special-vehicle lessor Alexander Czernig from Chemnitz had previously drawn attention to such offerings. Shortly after Mercedes-Benz Van Rental, European Van Service (EVS) from Hanover also presented its new rental offer for vehicles for people with reduced mobility (KMP) at RETTmobil 2019.

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    Mobility Reha tests wheelchair taxis in-house first

    News from 16/05/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    The transport service with an affiliated conversion operation showcased at RETTmobil for the first time solutions that have proven themselves in its own use.

    Mobility Reha from Bestwig has recently been promoting its conversions, which the transport service initially developed for its own operations. At RETTmobil in Fulda, senior boss Rüdiger Müller and his son Tobias explained their maxim to "install only things that have proven themselves in our service over two winters," as Rüdiger Müller put it.

    In their own Ford Transit L3H3, chosen as the show vehicle due to its standing height, the two demonstrated their system floor. Its aluminium rails for anchoring single seats or wheelchair restraint systems lie between wooden elements whose width can be easily adapted to different distances between seat feet. This allows taxi or private hire operators to use seat systems they already have in other vehicles to ensure interchangeability.

    Mobility Reha’s single seats do not need to be lifted out of the anchorage to be moved, then reinserted; instead, they can be unlocked with a single spring-loaded lever, moved, and locked again. Through bonding of the floor, belt forces can be introduced into the vehicle structure.

    The company addresses the problem of rattling ramps with a two-piece aluminium ramp that has no lateral lock, a potential source of noise. Held by a stop buffer against the closed rear door, it cannot rattle, reported Rüdiger Müller. Another advantage, he says, is that the ramp is not mounted on a protruding base plate at the rear. This leaves a few extra centimetres to anchor wheelchair restraints.

    Mobility Reha operates a transport service with around 200 vehicles. The fleet consists mainly of Ford vans, but also includes Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Peugeot Boxer.

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    Rolli converter EVS now also rents out wheelchair taxis

    News from 15/05/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    The converter offers 3.5-tonners with full equipment for rent and as replacement vehicles after accidents.

    The Hanover-based vehicle builder European Van Service (EVS), known for converting vans into multi-purpose and wheelchair taxis, is now entering the rental of vehicles for transporting people with limited mobility (KMP). It has initially converted seven 3.5-tonners for this purpose.

    All feature a system floor and can thus be configured with single seats, wheelchair spaces, or a mix of both. All have an electric step and a linear lift from Italian manufacturer Autolift at the rear door. Base vehicles available include Ford Transit, Opel Movano, VW Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

    According to sales representative Aris Diamantidis, EVS delivers and collects the rental vehicles. Anyone needing them as replacement vehicles after an accident can also have their damaged vehicle repaired at EVS.

    EVS has created the brand www.kmp-mieten.de for the rental line. For the time being, this address still redirects to the EVS homepage. Similar rental vehicles with AMF system floors were recently launched by Mercedes-Benz Van Rental.

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    RETTmobil brings many new wheelchair taxis

    News from 08/04/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    New system floors for multi-purpose vehicles and conversions for the Opel Combo are the most important innovations.

    This year, the "blue light" trade fair RETTmobil is especially worthwhile for Rolli specialists among taxi and private hire operators. New exhibitors are appearing in Fulda from 15 to 17 May 2019, and there is movement in the area of system floors, as shown by the preview of innovations compiled by taxi heute for issue 5/2019.

    Exhibiting for the first time are Fiat and Iveco dealer ABZ from Jena, Ford dealership Sorg from Fulda, and MobilityReha Service from Bestwig. ABZ wants to focus more on passenger transport; Sorg shares a stand with engineering provider EDAG, which is presenting its now series-offered two-stage step. MobilityReha Service is a conversion company that emerged from a transport service and now wants to intensify its conversion activities for external customers.

    Vehicle-wise, the new Opel Combo panel-van-based MPV in both lengths as a wheelchair taxi with rear cut-out is a focus at several stands. RETTmobil also showcases multi-purpose vehicles based on larger vans, some on new system floors. MobiTEC presents one in the new VW Crafter "Flex Van." The "LightFLOOR," developed with a supplier, offers flexible distances between perforated rails to mount single seats, wheelchair restraints, carry chairs and stretchers.

    As not all well-known converters exhibit at RETTmobil, taxi heute’s overview in issue 5/2019 is not limited to what is arguably the most important trade fair for wheelchair taxis this year. It also brings information on converters who present their innovations outside trade fairs.

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    Tribus brings wheelchair taxi based on the E‑Crafter

    News from 19/03/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ large electric van is to come to market with a rear lift, two wheelchair spaces and a flexible seating concept.

    Minibus converter Tribus from Utrecht, Netherlands, announces the conversion of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ E‑Crafter into a wheelchair-accessible minibus. As soon as the E‑Crafter is available on the German market, Tribus plans to convert the 3.5‑tonne, licence class B vehicle with a lowered entry at the passenger door and two wheelchair spaces along the left wall. Its "TriflexAIR" system floor with mountings for wheelchairs, wheelchair restraints and single seats should allow four single seats in addition to the two wheelchairs.

    If no wheelchair user is riding, four additional single seats can be folded down instead of the wheelchairs, providing eight passenger seats. Tribus offers an optional rear lift for loading and unloading wheelchair users.

    According to Tribus, the E‑Crafter’s electric motor has an output of 100 kW/136 hp. Its 35.8 kWh batteries should enable a range of up to 173 kilometres and can be charged to 80 percent in 45 minutes via a 40 kW DC fast charge. Normal charging takes 5 hours 20 minutes.

    Tribus already showcased its flexible interior design at the European Taxi Fair in early November 2018 in Cologne. Combining it with an electric van could appeal to taxi and private hire operators who regularly run to sheltered workshops twice a day and can either charge between outbound and return trips, or can live with the E‑Crafter’s relatively short range and charge the batteries overnight.

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    In Mainz, a Rolli taxi stands out

    News from 13/02/2019 by Dietmar Fund

    According to the traffic monitoring office, after many years the first taxi operator has received a licence for a wheelchair-accessible taxi.

    Taxi operators who get a wheelchair taxi should not hesitate to contact their local press, especially if they need not shyly point to subsidies. This is shown by the example of Mainz taxi operator Carsten Spies, about whom the Allgemeine Zeitung reported with words and photos at the beginning of February 2019.

    The local paper quotes Elke Schmitt, head of taxi licensing at the traffic monitoring office. She said a similar offer years ago unfortunately went unused. According to the report, Carsten Spieß operates a VW Caddy Maxi with rear entry that can take one wheelchair user and still offer four seats. The conversion is by converter handicap mobil from Nieder-Olm.

    As in many other German towns, apparently only transport services of non-profit organisations exist in Mainz otherwise, requiring wheelchair rides to be requested several days in advance and offering no night service. Taxi and private hire operators could capitalise on this, especially since the panel-van-based MPVs on which simple wheelchair taxis are based now offer ever more passenger-car comfort for regular fares.

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    Mannheim offers up to 10,000 euros for wheelchair taxis

    News from 19/12/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    The city administration wants to improve mobility for citizens who rely on a wheelchair.

    From early 2019, the City of Mannheim plans to subsidise the conversion of taxis into wheelchair taxis by up to 10,000 euros. A total of 50,000 euros is earmarked for conversions. Guidelines for the grant are still being developed. All taxi operators with their business base in Mannheim are eligible to apply. The city announced this in a press release on 11 December 2018.

    With the programme, the administration responds to the fact that the city’s more than 300-vehicle taxi fleet does not contain an "inclusive" taxi, as the text puts it. This refers to taxis where the wheelchair can be wheeled into the vehicle via a ramp. As they can also be used for transporting non-disabled persons, they are "taxis for everyone."

    The subsidy is further evidence that the use of wheelchair taxis, which are much more flexible than transport services and can also be ordered on weekends and public holidays, represents a niche with growth potential. The German Taxi and Hire Car Association (BZP) frequently points this out.

    Vehicles such as the VW Caddy Maxi, Opel Combo Life or Mercedes-Benz Citan now have comfortable interiors and better sound insulation, so they do not deter regular passengers at the taxi rank. Laypeople do not notice the wheelchair conversion from the outside anyway.

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    There are wheelchair taxis in Stuttgart, actually

    News from 13/11/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    A Stuttgart hire-car operator points out that around 80 wheelchair-accessible vehicles serve wheelchair users, making hire cars from outside unnecessary to ensure their mobility.

    Press reports from Stuttgart describing the launch of wheelchair-accessible Mercedes-Benz Sprinter by bus operator Schlienz from Kernen (reported by taxi heute) recently claimed that the taxi trade does not look after wheelchair users. Stuttgart hire-car operator Klaus Knupfer disagrees. He was a taxi operator from 1974 to 2011 and board member of Taxi-Auto-Zentrale Stuttgart until 2011.

    According to Knupfer, there are around 80 wheelchair-accessible taxis and hire cars in the state capital. A list of such operators is available on the city administration’s website under "Transport service for wheelchair users and other severely mobility-impaired persons."

    He himself put his first wheelchair vehicle into service in 2008 and the second in 2011. Since 2014, his two companies Kranken- und Rollstuhlfahrten Knupfer and Katja’s RolliMobil have operated eight vehicles, all converted by MobiTEC. Four are based in Stuttgart and four in Filderstadt-Plattenhardt.

    Knupfer wonders how a bus operator based 15 kilometres outside the city can cover his costs with hire cars within Stuttgart, since he has to drive to the city first and return to his base afterwards. Moreover, disabled parking spaces are already too short for normal wheelchair vehicles with folding ramps. With a Sprinter, you usually have to stop double-parked in the city and thus block traffic.

    The market for wheelchair transport, with around 50,000 mobility-impaired and wheelchair users in the greater Stuttgart area, is large enough, says the operator. The city issues vouchers for taxi rides to them.

    The city’s information on transport services is available as a PDF in the download area below this report.

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    Wheelchair taxis come on-demand via app

    News from 03/11/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    A bus operator from the Stuttgart region also offers taxi and hire-car operators an app for managing private wheelchair trips.

    In the Rems-Murr district, Esslingen district and the city of Stuttgart, bus company Schlienz-Tours GmbH & Co. KG from Kernen im Remstal now offers wheelchair trips via app. Its "S-Shuttle App" manages hire-car operations with minibuses equipped with a rear linear lift to take wheelchair users. They can be ordered with three hours’ notice either via the app or by phone through a call centre Monday to Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

    The app is available for Android and Apple. It shows individual shuttles without wheelchair passengers, wheelchair shuttles, or an outlet shuttle conducted with large buses. It can also order dial-a-ride taxis.

    The app shows exact trip costs. A surcharge is levied for the wheelchair and its handling. A wheelchair user can indicate whether he or she is transferable, uses an electric wheelchair, or brings a folding wheelchair. Payment is initially in cash; credit cards and PayPal are to be added shortly.

    Schlienz also uses other hire-car operators as subcontractors for its services. The company also wants to offer its wheelchair app to other companies. The contact is Alexander Brüll, head of shuttle services at Schlienz.

    "We want to compensate for a weakness of new competitors by connecting not just the city centre, but also the surrounding area," Erhard Kiesel told taxi heute. "In doing so, we supplement public transport." Kiesel is the managing partner of the bus company.

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    Taxi chat night at the Rolli converter

    News from 19/06/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    Taxi operators from two GVN district groups visited AMF-Bruns to learn about the latest wheelchair trends.

    While the Taxi and Hire Car Association of the Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN) is negotiating hard with payers about wheelchair tariffs, two district groups have familiarised themselves with the simpler, technical side of wheelchair taxis. Around 20 operators from the Oldenburg and Aurich/Ostfriesland district groups visited well-known converter AMF-Bruns on 6 June 2018.

    There, Stefan Willjes led a factory tour and answered questions about wheelchair Caddys and Smartfloor concepts. According to Hajo Agena, Managing Director of the Oldenburg/Ostfriesland district group of the GVN, the event was initiated by the association.

    The GVN regularly visits companies and, for example, has already been to taxi developer and converter INTAX. Depending on schedules, such visits always gather 15 to 20 people.

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    Taxi operator seeks advice on Rolli taxis

    News from 17/05/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    At RETTmobil, a businesswoman from Ingolstadt sought information and could use advice from experienced colleagues after many discussions with exhibitors.

    Taxi operator Jolanta Schmelzer from Ingolstadt and her husband Hans-Jochen Kerscher want to expand their fleet with a hire car that can take at least two passengers in wheelchairs and offers good interior height. After surveying the market for a year, they looked around at RETTmobil 2018 in Fulda on 16 May 2018.

    "After talking to exhibitors, we are as confused as before," she told taxi heute. "We received contradictory statements on questions about a system floor made of wood or aluminium, about an automatic transmission and especially about the noise level of the conversions. The converters avoided commenting on base vehicles and future-proof powertrains." The operator would also have liked to see the wheelchair taxis in motion.

    Jolanta Schmelzer would therefore appreciate advice from colleagues who already have experience with different base vehicles and converters. Her email address is jolanta.schmelzer@t-online.de.

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    MobiTEC turns an electric seven-seater into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 12/05/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    The Berkheim converter fits the multi-purpose taxi Nissan e-NV200 Evalia with a short but wide wheelchair space despite the batteries.

    MobiTEC now equips the seven-seat electric van Nissan e-NV200 Evalia with rear entry for use as a variable wheelchair taxi. Because of the battery, the floor pan is only 1.33 instead of the usual 1.55 metres long, but its width has increased from 81 to 86.5 centimetres. According to MobiTEC, the length is sufficient for most wheelchairs. Since wheelchairs are getting wider, the greater width benefits mobile operators who have to cope with a variety of wheelchair models.

    In the floor pan, MobiTEC recesses the seat mounts with spring assist already known from the VW Caddy and VW Caddy Maxi. When you flip up the flush-mounted mounts, you can use the two rear single seats that were tilted up and swung to the side for wheelchair transport, turning the vehicle into a seven-seater without having to reinstall a bench stored elsewhere, as is the case with the seven-seat VW Caddy Maxi.

    The ramp features the "Balance System" as standard, which is intended to make it easy to lift with little effort.

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    Autohaus Bayer presents three Rolli vehicles

    News from 11/04/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    At RETTmobil, the Ford dealer unveils, among other things, a new Ford Transit Custom as a multi-purpose wheelchair taxi.

    For RETTmobil in Fulda, Ford dealership Autohaus Bayer is bringing four multi-purpose wheelchair vehicles with different system floors. The newest KMP (vehicles for transporting people with reduced mobility) is the new Ford Custom Kombi.
    The recently updated competitor to the VW T6 or Mercedes-Benz Vito is presented in the L2H2 variant with an AMF-Bruns conversion. The vehicle has a reinforced floor with transverse rails in the passenger compartment, a folding aluminium ramp and an electric step at the sliding door. Up to three wheelchair spaces can be realised. The factory seating in the second and third rows of the passenger compartment can be removed as needed to make space for wheelchairs.

    Two directly comparable KMPs are based on the Ford Transit L3H2 with automatic transmission: one has AMF-Bruns’ Smartfloor, the other a system floor from Ambulanzmobile Schönebeck. Both allow up to five wheelchair spaces but differ in interior details. Completing Ford-Bayer’s line-up is the old model of the Caddy Maxi competitor Ford Transit Connect. The model change here is not due until autumn.

    An extensive preview of RETTmobil appears in taxi heute issue 5/2018, published in time for the fair.

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    AMF-Bruns presents electric large-capacity wheelchair taxi

    News from 29/03/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    The multi-purpose vehicle based on the Opel Movano will be presented at RETTmobil as a world first.

    Converter AMF-Bruns is presenting a purely electric vehicle for people with reduced mobility (KMP) as a world first at RETTmobil in Fulda. The multi-purpose vehicle is based on the L2H2 variant of Opel’s large Movano van and has a drivetrain from I SEE Electric Trucks GmbH of Offenbach.

    For the alternating transport of up to four wheelchairs or single seats, the vehicle features an aluminium system floor. A rear linear lift loads and unloads wheelchair users. AMF-Bruns and I SEE Electric Trucks could not yet provide a photo or drawing because the prototype has not yet been converted.

    According to AMF-Bruns, the more compact Opel Vivaro will also soon be available as a pure electric vehicle. Both types are certified by Opel.

    I-SEE Electric Trucks GmbH in Offenbach runs the website https://i-see.plus. The company already offers the electrified Opel Vivaro there and claims a range of 100 to 220 kilometres for its "Elektroblitz eVivaro." According to Managing Director Thomas Wächter, the Movano will be offered with two battery capacities of 60 kWh or 90 kWh, enabling real ranges of up to 300 kilometres. Its electric motor, designed for commercial vehicles, produces 100 kW and is coupled to a two-speed automatic. This is a completely different concept from the Renault Master Z.E., which was recently presented to the trade press as a panel van.

    Opel’s press department could not quickly clarify internally, before the holidays, who is following the project at Opel.

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    Schnierle introduces head and back support for Rolli taxis

    News from 13/03/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    The Safetrans belt column offers adjustable supports for the head and back of wheelchair users.

    At RETTmobil, Schnierle is presenting a belt column with integrated head and back support for wheelchair users, called Safetrans. The headrest is height-adjustable; the back support can also be adjusted horizontally in the direction of travel. Both supports can be folded away to the side when not needed. The entire belt column can also be moved longitudinally when mounted on rails.

    Versions are available for a wheelchair space positioned on the left in the direction of travel and those on the right when equipping a larger van. Schnierle also envisages installation in wheelchair or multi-purpose taxis such as the Volkswagen Caddy Maxi, which have only one wheelchair space.

    As an alternative to floor rail systems, the supports can also be mounted longitudinally adjustable on the wheel arches. Schnierle calls this system "Sliding Bridge." taxi heute reports on further RETTmobil innovations for the mobile trade and spring innovations from converters in the May issue.

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    LTV demands better Rolli conditions

    News from 06/01/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    The Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry has called on insurers over the turn of the year to pay appropriately for the transport of non-transferable wheelchair users.

    According to the health insurers AOK-Plus, IKK-classic and Knappschaft, taxi and hire-car operators in Thuringia should receive an additional 10 euros gross for transporting non-transferable wheelchair users and providing extra carrying services. The substitute insurers want to pay 15 euros gross. Both rates are time-independent. Operators cannot cover the statutory minimum wage they must pay their staff with such rates, criticised Martin Kammer, Chief Executive of the Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry (LTV), in two press releases dated 22 December 2017 and 5 January 2018.

    Kammer points out that picking up non-transferable wheelchair users, loading, securing, unsecuring, unloading and bringing them in typically takes 20 to 30 minutes per trip, which the insurers ignore, as they do the conversion costs of 8,000 to 10,000 euros per wheelchair taxi. He criticises that insurers, as public-law corporations, have for years resisted the legally prescribed minimum wage in wheelchair transport.

    According to LTV, AOK-Plus asked a dialysis centre to award fewer seated-patient trips to a larger company that had not concluded a contract for wheelchair transport for cost reasons, even though the company has a valid contract for seated transport. Kammer sees this as further proof for his view that insurers either live in their own world or act consciously.

    Thuringian daily newspapers have already picked up the press release’s title ("Insurers apparently live in their own world!") and further spread the LTV’s message.

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    TaxiBus route trials wheelchair taxi service

    News from 04/01/2018 by Dietmar Fund

    Regionalverkehr Köln wants to carry non-transferable wheelchair users on a TaxiBus route operated by taxi firms.

    Integrating wheelchair users more and more into public life under the heading of inclusion is gaining traction among politicians. This is shown by the example of the TaxiBus route between Bad Münstereifel and Mechernich. There, the route licensee Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK) has been trialling the use of wheelchair taxis since early January 2018 to transport non-transferable wheelchair users.

    They can now also travel on the TaxiBus, operated by taxi firms, with the same half-hour advance booking. The fare is the same as for all other passengers. While wheelchair users cannot alight directly at their destination as with a regular wheelchair taxi, they can at least alight nearby.

    RVK does not state which and how many wheelchair-accessible vehicles are used, nor the exact duration of the trial. With it, RVK wants to assess the demand for such an offer and its feasibility in the district.

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    Taxi operator writes press release about Rolli taxis

    News from 19/12/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    Taxi operator Andreas Röthig from Hoyerswerda took up a suggestion from the local business association and drew attention to his latest wheelchair taxis.

    In late November 2017, taxi operator Andreas Röthig from Hoyerswerda put two new VW Caddy Maxi with wheelchair-friendly conversions by AMF-Bruns into service. The rear entry and the restraint systems for the wheelchair user and wheelchair comply with DIN 75078. That in itself is nothing special.

    Röthig, however, flagged his new vehicles with a press release. "I got the idea from marketing expert Mathias Priebe, who informed on behalf of the business association how to write press releases," the operator reported on request from taxi heute. "We have been on the market since 1990 and used this tool for the first time." He then sent a press text and a photo, always important to illustrate such releases, to local journalists.

    The operator ordered the new Caddy Maxi as five-seaters because the two-seat bench on their seven-seat predecessors had always stood in the garage and after 400,000 to 500,000 kilometres of service it makes no difference for resale whether it’s a five or seven-seater. Taxi Röthig currently has five VW Caddy Maxi with rear entry, regularly used for a local rehab facility and often for rides to the clinic. Röthig operates 15 vehicles in total.

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    Sozialverband Deutschland: Berlin could subsidise Rolli taxis

    News from 29/11/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    Funding of 500,000 euros is under discussion in the social budget to significantly increase the number of inclusion taxis.

    For Berlin’s upcoming social budget, funding of 500,000 euros is under discussion to subsidise the conversion costs of wheelchair-accessible taxis. The percentage by which conversion-related additional costs of up to 10,000 euros will be subsidised has not yet been decided. A 50 to 60 percent subsidy of this maximum amount is under discussion. This was reported by project developer Martin Maubach and project manager Lutz-Stephan Mannkopf, representing the Berlin-Brandenburg state association of the Sozialverband Deutschland, on 28 November 2017 at an event at Toyota Motor Company in Berlin.

    As Maubach explained to taxi heute, only five "inclusion taxis" based on the VW Caddy Maxi are currently in use. After two and a half years of the inclusion taxi project, talks with taxi operators revealed that they would gladly procure such vehicles if they received a grant. Without one, they would not be willing. According to simulations by the Technical University of Berlin, 250 wheelchair taxis would be needed to be able to dispatch a wheelchair taxi within around 15 minutes.

    As Mannkopf said in a brief talk before about 40 visitors from the taxi trade, Berliners with the mark aG (exceptionally disabled) in their severely disabled person’s ID receive 125 euros per month for taxi use. This is a "win-win" for the taxi trade and people with disabilities. To avoid impairing their mobility, the Federal Environment Ministry recently declared that any emissions restrictions in cities would not apply to the transport of disabled persons.

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    City of Stuttgart: Social administration wants to subsidise Rolli taxis

    News from 25/11/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    Instead of a wheelchair surcharge, there is to be up to 10,000 euros for ten conversions.

    Stuttgart’s social administration proposes to the city council to subsidise the conversion of ten wheelchair taxis with up to 10,000 euros each. In return, a wheelchair surcharge of 7.50 euros requested by Taxi-Auto-Zentrale Stuttgart is not to be included in the city taxi tariff.

    As Social Affairs Councillor Werner Wölfle explained to taxi heute, councillors will vote on this request on 15 December 2017. The administration gathered quotes and deliberately set the subsidy at 10,000 euros to offer a broader choice not limited to the VW Caddy. The city and the taxi trade have not yet agreed whether the subsidised operator must cover ten percent of the documented conversion costs.

    The grants would be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications can only be submitted after the decision is made and published, likely in 2018.

    As Wölfle added, the city will take a flanking measure: at the central Schlossplatz, where the taxi rank lies on a turning loop, the front-most bay will be designated specifically for wheelchair taxis.

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    Wheelchair contracts: LTV holds initial talks

    News from 19/11/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    The Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry wants to conclude a framework agreement for non-transferable wheelchair users similar to those for regular patient transport.

    In the past twelve months, the Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry (LTV) held three taxi roundtables in Hermsdorf, Ebeleben and Ohrdruf in the Gotha district specifically for taxi and hire-car operators with wheelchair vehicles. Following these, Chief Executive Martin Kammer held an initial exploratory talk on 14 November 2017 about a framework agreement with the Association of Substitute Health Insurers (vdek). He reported this at the Passenger Transport Association’s general meeting on 18 November 2017 in Erfurt.

    Besides patient transport, self-paid rides are also of interest to wheelchair vehicle operators. For this area, Kammer had further good news: The Kyffhäuser district has, for the first time, introduced a special wheelchair tariff that had not previously existed anywhere in Thuringia.

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    Badener and Württemberger want to set up wheelchair information service

    News from 16/10/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    The association of the transport industry in Baden and the association of the Württemberg transport industry want to negotiate a framework agreement with insurers for non-transferable wheelchair users.

    In cooperation with the Württemberg Association of the Transport Industry, the Baden Association of the Transport Industry wants to set up an information service for wheelchair transport of non-transferable persons. It is to be accessible to every association member. This was reported by Dipl.-Ing. Markus Strecker, Managing Director of the Baden association, at the 39th Taxi and Hire Car Assembly in Karlsruhe.

    Strecker pointed out that most wheelchair transports are billed with insurers on the basis of individual agreements. Many members would prefer the association to conclude a framework agreement with insurers for non-transferable wheelchair transport, analogous to regular patient transport. The associations will assess insurers’ willingness to talk.

    Martin Kammer, Chief Executive of the Thuringia State Association of the Transport Industry (LTV), also wants to vigorously represent the interests of his roughly 120 member companies involved in wheelchair transport. He organised roundtables at three locations in 2017, which materialised and already had first effects, while similar efforts in 2014 and 2015 were not used.

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    Rehacare International 2017 offers few wheelchair taxis

    News from 06/09/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    The Düsseldorf fair brings news at most for absolute wheelchair specialists.

    From 4 to 7 October 2017, the public fair REHACARE International takes place in Düsseldorf. According to the organiser, 21 vehicle converters will present solutions to maintain the mobility of people with disabilities, including options for transporting wheelchair users alongside many concepts for self-drivers.

    A look at the exhibitor list shows that this year only a few typical wheelchair taxi converters are present, and mostly with news not central to the mobile trade. AMF-Bruns is presenting the only conversion relevant for taxi and hire-car operators: a rear cut-out for the Toyota Proace van. The Apen company is also showcasing its ultra-flat cassette lift K70 for the first time. Kirchhoff Mobility is presenting a cassette lift called K90 active. ALTEC from Singen is exhibiting a wide range of ramps for installation in buildings or for mobile use in cars.

    API is also present as a supplier of rear cut-outs for wheelchair taxis. Automobile Sodermanns is showing a swivel seat console. Seat manufacturer Hermann Schnierle, a specialist in multi-purpose vehicles with system floors, is focusing on its Schnierle Safety Belts subsidiary and presenting the Quick Secure wheelchair restraint system. Paravan and Mobilcenter Zawatzky, who have also been seen with vehicles featuring rear cut-outs for wheelchair transport, are showing only self-driver models.

    The fair runs Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A day ticket costs 14 euros on site and 8 euros in the online presale.

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    In-house fair with taxis and wheelchair vehicles

    News from 29/08/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    Ford dealer Auto Bayer in Alzey will host an in-house fair in October, where wheelchair taxi converters will also exhibit.

    From 10 to 12 October 2017, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day, Ford dealer Auto Bayer in Alzey will host an in-house fair for its diverse clientele. Of particular interest to taxi and hire-car operators are the stands of converters such as AMF-Bruns or Ambulanzmobile Schönebeck, who will show vehicles for transporting wheelchair users on 10 and 11 October. These are a focus of the host company. Other wheelchair converters like Kirchhoff Mobility or taxi specialist INTAX are also invited.

    Specialist talks are planned for 10 and 11 October, with topics and speakers yet to be announced. The sales team promises customers a bonus of up to 500 euros if they "commit" during the event or within a defined period afterwards.

    A Mondeo taxi and a Ford Tourneo Connect will definitely be available for test drives. Interested taxi and hire-car operators should register by email at alzey@autohaus-bayer.de.

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    Wheelchair taxi service to the castle

    News from 01/08/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    At the expense of the Tübingen city administration, wheelchair users will soon be able to get safely up to the elevated castle and back down into the city.

    The City of Tübingen’s planning committee decided at the end of July, on a motion by Left Party councillor Gotthilf Lorch, to pay for wheelchair users to travel to Hohentübingen Castle and back. The Tübingen taxi dispatch centre, as partner, has pledged to provide enough taxis capable of transporting a folding wheelchair or a rollator. Transport of non-transferable wheelchair users with electric wheelchairs is also to be possible.

    The offer is initially valid for one year. It is open to people with disability ID marks G, aG, BI, H or GI. According to local press, taxi operators settle directly with the city. The project is budgeted for an average of 20 people transported per month, i.e. 40 journeys, costing around 4.30 euros from the main station.

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    MobiTEC makes setting up the wheelchair ramp easier

    News from 27/07/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    From August 2017, the balance system will be available for wheelchair taxis with taxi ramps.

    From August, converter MobiTEC in Berkheim will offer wheelchair taxis with a taxi ramp including the new balance system. This design tweak allows the ramp covering the floor cut-out to be set up with little effort from either the rear or the interior.

    Initially, the balance system can be ordered for wheelchair taxis based on the VW Caddy Maxi, including the flat-floor variant in which the wheelchair stands level. It will then be adapted to other common base models for wheelchair taxis.

    MobiTEC showcased the system at the Rehab fair in Karlsruhe, where a short promotional video was shot and can be viewed on YouTube.

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    Patient transport regulation does not apply to wheelchair trips

    News from 12/05/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    The agreements concluded by Baden-Württemberg associations with two insurers apply only to seated patient transport.

    The new agreements reached by the Baden associations of the transport industry and the TVD Baden-Württemberg with AOK Baden-Württemberg and SVLFG for patient transport do not apply to wheelchair trips, but only to seated transport. This was clarified by Peter Welling, Managing Director of the Baden Association of the Transport Industry, in response to a query from taxi heute.

    His association had sent two press releases on the subject. An earlier text was comprehensively revised by AOK after renegotiations. taxi heute reported online and in issue 5/2017 at short notice.

    Unfortunately, the releases mistakenly spoke of "patient and wheelchair trips." The editorial team apologises for this error and regrets that it was not noticed by the association but only by an attentive taxi and hire-car operator active in Köngen and Waiblingen who read the report in the magazine.

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    RETTmobil 2017 brings new wheelchair taxis again

    News from 16/04/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    New vehicles for transporting wheelchair users and recumbent passengers will be on display in Fulda in May.

    From Wednesday, 10 May to Friday, 12 May, the "blue light" fair RETTmobil 2017 in Fulda will again showcase vehicles for transporting wheelchair users. Between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the following converters will present innovations:

    AAT Alber (stair climbers for carry chairs and person transport).

    Activa Automobil-Service GmbH (vehicle adaptations for disabled persons).

    AMF-Bruns (Smartfloor system floors, rear cut-outs for wheelchair taxis).

    API (conversion kits for rear cut-outs in wheelchair taxis).

    Auto-Fiegl (vehicles for transporting disabled persons).

    Autohaus Bayer (vehicles for transporting disabled persons).

    Kirchhoff Mobility (rear cut-outs for wheelchair taxis, swivel seats).

    C. Miesen GmbH & Co. KG (vehicles for transporting disabled persons).

    Autohaus Siebrecht (Opel vehicles for people with reduced mobility).

    Hermann Schnierle GmbH (seating systems, wheelchair restraint systems, system floors)

    Brands Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Renault and Volkswagen also have stands. With a bit of luck, you can meet special vehicle developers who also deal with taxis and hire cars. Exhibits could include conversions of the new Transporter Citroen Jumpy/SpaceTourer alias Peugeot Partner or Toyota Proace Verso—or conversions of the new Fiat Talento alias Renault Trafic.

    Visitor parking at the fairgrounds just outside Fulda is free. Those arriving by train can use a free bus transfer from Fulda central station. If you don’t want to wait, taxi colleagues from Fulda are available directly opposite the main entrance.

    A report from the fair appears in taxi heute issue 6-7/2017.

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    MobiTEC builds long wheelchair taxi with four folding seats

    News from 22/02/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    MobiTEC has fitted a Mercedes-Benz Vito extra-long with rear entry and made it into a nine-seat multi-purpose taxi.

    Taxi operator Wolfgang Fritz from Warendorf had MobiTEC in Berkheim convert an extra-long Mercedes-Benz Vito into a versatile wheelchair taxi. In addition to rear entry, the vehicle has a three-seat bench in the rear and no fewer than four swivel/folding seats. This allows the wheelchair taxi to be used as a nine-seater when fully seated, despite not having a front passenger double bench. That middle place in the Vito is not suitable for any adult, nor even a long-legged student.

    According to MobiTEC Managing Director Harald Damaschke, the rear entry can be combined with both front- and rear-wheel drive. It can therefore even be installed in the all-wheel-drive Vito. Taxi Fritz’s vehicle has rear-wheel drive.

    Taxi Fritz has four locations: Warendorf, Everswinkel, Sassenberg and Beelen.

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    The Fiat Talento can be a talented wheelchair taxi

    News from 24/01/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    A rear entry and two swivel/folding seats from AMF-Bruns turn the new van into a highly versatile large-capacity taxi for up to seven seated passengers and one wheelchair user.

    Genuinely large-capacity taxis that combine maximum passenger seats with sufficient luggage space and optionally a wheelchair space are particularly interesting for taxi and hire-car operators in rural areas. One of them now is the new Fiat Talento Kombi L1H2. Fiat Professional offers it with a taxi package from Intax and demonstrates with a demo taxi what a versatile multi-purpose taxi can look like.

    In taxi heute’s test, the "tall lad," already available as Renault Trafic and Opel Vivaro, impressed with its quiet 1.6-litre Renault engine in the top 107 kW/145 hp trim at 3,500 rpm, well matched to the well-shifting, well-geared six-speed transmission. The well-judged suspension also pleased, neither too soft nor crashy.

    While the driver and front passenger are well seated in the height-adjustable comfort seat, seating comfort in the passenger compartment is limited. The fixed benches have neither adjustable backrests nor extendable headrests. Even if you order a second sliding door on the left, only on the right is there a folding armrest for passage to the rear. The same applies in the third row, where only the same type of bench can be installed. A Volkswagen T6 and Mercedes-Benz Vito offer more variety here and even a 2-2-3 seating layout, which is not available in the Talento.

    Consistently, the demo vehicle had no third row, but a rear entry. Converter AMF-Bruns combined this with an Easy-Flex ramp and two swivel/folding seats as well as its Easy Safe head and neck support. Behind the auxiliary seats, a wheelchair user can ride. In the simpler Kombi variants, ordering the front passenger double bench provides seven passenger seats and one wheelchair space. The driver always has all seats with him. Both the auxiliary seats and the ramp are easy to handle.

    The detailed test report appears in taxi heute issue 1-2/2017. Interested taxi and hire-car operators can download detailed test notes as a PDF below this report.

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    Wheelchair taxis roll under a new corporate roof

    News from 08/01/2017 by Dietmar Fund

    Reha Group Automotive and Jelschen now operate under the name Kirchhoff Mobility.

    As of 1 January 2017, automotive supplier Kirchhoff has combined two previously acquired rehab converters into one firm. Under the name Kirchhoff Mobility GmbH & Co. KG, converter Jelschen GmbH of Bad Zwischenahn and the former Reha Group Automotive GmbH & Co. KG now operate. The latter has several sites in Germany in addition to its headquarters in Hilden.

    The company’s online presence has been updated accordingly. Entering www.jelschen.de now redirects to www.kirchhoff-mobility.com. The locations still list personal contacts with photos and contact details, e.g. at Jelschen the taxi trade’s familiar Jens Cordes.

    The Austrian subsidiary Pruckner GmbH is now called Kirchhoff Mobility Austria GmbH. The Swiss subsidiary has been Kirchhoff Mobility AG since 2016. The Kirchhoff Mobility division comprises a total of eleven conversion operations.

    The Kirchhoff Group is based in Iserlohn. It has four business areas and was best known as an automotive supplier before entering the rehab business.

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    Reha-Automobile makes rear-drive Vito and V-Class into wheelchair taxis

    News from 07/12/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    Because an automatic transmission is only available with rear-wheel drive in the Vito and V-Class, the wheelchair taxi pioneer has designed a rear cut-out for this variant as well.

    Reha-Automobile Bad Zwischenahn is known in the mobile trade for fulfilling many customer wishes. Therefore, at the European Taxi Fair the pioneer of wheelchair taxis presented a Mercedes-Benz V-Class with rear-wheel drive and rear cut-out, plus a drop-in crossmember for mounting the rear bench instead of a wheelchair. Beneath the slightly wavy-profiled wheelchair platform and a palm-sized bulge hides the differential of the rear-wheel drive.

     "Many customers want this because there is no automatic with front-wheel drive," said Managing Partner Markus Pacholke. "This rear cut-out is of course also compatible with all-wheel drive."

     The rear cut-out is around 1,500 millimetres long and roughly 810 millimetres wide. It offers a drive-through height of around 1,450 millimetres and an interior height of around 1,470 millimetres. The conversion uses the original tank and exhaust, installed in slightly different positions. On request, a taxi ramp is available to cover the wheelchair cut-out when operating fully seated.

     According to Pacholke at the Cologne fair, his team has already converted eight rear-drive vehicles.

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    Taxi fair: MobiTEC raffles a conversion into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 04/11/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    The converter is raffling three prizes at its stand. The main prize is the basic conversion of a lowered-floor vehicle.

    With a special idea, Harald Damaschke, Managing Director of Berkheim wheelchair taxi converter MobiTEC, wants to attract visitors to his stand at the European Taxi Fair: he is raffling three prizes interesting for entering the wheelchair taxi business.

    The main prize is the basic conversion of a lowered-floor vehicle, with the winner free to choose make and type. Second prize is a standard wheelchair ramp, and third is a 4-point wheelchair restraint system.

    To win, you must answer two questions correctly on a card and enter your contact details. The answers to both specialist questions can also be found at the stand. Interested taxi and hire-car operators should hurry, as the draw takes place at 3 p.m. on 5 November 2016 at the stand.

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    Q’Straint wants to simplify wheelchair securing

    News from 27/10/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    The new InQLine system combines a winch with a wheelchair restraint system.

    British manufacturer Q’Straint is presenting a new wheelchair restraint system at the European Taxi Fair at converter Activa Fahrzeugbau’s stand. Its two front electric retractors, mounted under the seats, combine a winch with a wheelchair restraint system.

    With a hand control, the driver can control the left and right retractors separately, enabling steering of the wheelchair and easing loading if it leans to one side. Once the wheelchair is positioned, the belts are automatically tensioned. This is particularly advantageous in tight vehicles with rear cut-outs, where the driver would otherwise have to tension the belts in cramped conditions.

    Q’Straint has specialised in wheelchair securing for around 30 years. The company has previously had its own stand at taxi fairs.

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    At AMF-Bruns, a wheelchair winch replaces rear lowering

    News from 22/09/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    In the VW Caddy Maxi, AMF-Bruns replaces the rear lowering, which taxi and hire-car operators mostly shun anyway, with an electric wheelchair winch.

    At the Commercial Vehicle IAA, Stefan Geveke of converter AMF-Bruns presented the "Easy Pull" electric wheelchair winch in a VW Caddy Maxi. The driver attaches the front belts to the wheelchair and operates the winch with a remote control. The pulled-in wheelchair is then already secured at the front, while it must still be secured at the rear as usual.

    The system is housed in a flat casing at the front end of the rear cut-out and can be retrofitted in any vehicle with a rear cut-out. It allows even heavier passengers in electric wheelchairs to be easily loaded into the vehicle. Since this makes a somewhat steeper ramp acceptable, "Easy Pull" now replaces the no longer offered rear lowering for the VW Caddy. It remains available only for the Mercedes-Benz Citan or Renault Kangoo.

    Unlike the rear lowering, which costs around 2,000 euros (prices excl. VAT), "Easy Pull" costs only 1,200 euros. The new solution can also be moved to a new vehicle, whereas rear lowering is tied to the vehicle. Currently, with a taxi ramp, the cut-out is not yet fully covered. The converter is already considering a solution for multi-purpose use in taxi and hire-car companies.

    AMF adviser Geveke said on enquiry from taxi heute that the flexible seating of the Caddy Maxi wheelchair taxi, offered since spring with two side-folding and swivelling single seats for the third row, cannot be combined with a taxi ramp because the auxiliary seats project over the cut-out to the side.

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    AMF-Bruns shows VW Crafter as wheelchair taxi with Smartfloor

    News from 21/09/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    The new large van featured a Smartfloor for transporting wheelchair users at the Commercial Vehicle IAA.

    A new VW Crafter with a long wheelbase, high roof and medium length was the first and only seated variant of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ new large van showcased at the Commercial Vehicle IAA. AMF-Bruns’ Stefan Geveke explained to visitors the conversion with a Smartfloor, which in this case had three single seats in front next to the front passenger seat and the wheelchair space behind them.

    Wheelchair users enter this conversion via a linear lift of type AL1 and can slide the "Future Safe" head and backrest along a perforated rail mounted on the wall to the appropriate position.

    Companions can board comfortably thanks to an electrically extendable step linked to the electric sliding door. A sturdy handle on the B-pillar from the series vehicle assists entry.

    The Smartfloor solution is also available for the smaller T6.

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    Fiat is waking up in wheelchair taxis too

    News from 19/09/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    In addition to exhibiting at the European Taxi Fair in Cologne, the German Italians are also exhibiting at the Rehacare fair in Düsseldorf.

    Many dormant activities at the Fiat group seem to be reviving. After years of near-total taxi abstinence, Fiat will exhibit again at the European Taxi Fair in Cologne on 4/5 November 2016, and FCA Germany AG announces its own stand at the Rehacare fair.

    There, under the Autonomy umbrella brand, the group will present vehicles from Fiat, Jeep and Fiat Professional. For taxi and hire-car operators, new rear entries with ramps for transporting wheelchair users could be of interest, implemented together with AMF-Bruns on the new Talento van and the familiar Ducato.

    Fiat Autonomy generally works with converters known in the taxi sector: AMF-Bruns, EVS European Van Service, Kadomo, Mobilcenter Zawatzky, Reha-Group Automotive and Wolf, as well as A.S.P. Aufbauservice.

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    REHACARE International 2016 shows tried-and-true for wheelchair taxis

    News from 12/08/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    No newly converted vehicles for wheelchair taxis are expected at this year’s disability fair.

    Following the established two-year cycle, some car manufacturers are again present at REHACARE International 2016. As for wheelchair taxis, converters will show tried-and-tested solutions from 28 September to 1 October 2016, taxi heute found in a survey among converters also targeting taxi operators.

    Activa Fahrzeugbau from Borken, for example, is showing two vehicles already presented at RETTmobil in spring: a Citroen Berlingo and a VW Caddy Maxi 4 with rear cut-out. AMF Bruns has doubled its stand space and is showing two vans with a lift and three rear cut-outs in a VW Caddy Maxi, Ford Tourneo Connect and Dacia Dokker. The automatic wheelchair winch will be presented for the first time in a VW Caddy with rear cut-out. New wheelchair restraints for users weighing up to 160 kilograms are another topic.

    Under the Kirchhoff Mobility umbrella, Reha-Group Automotive and its close relative Jelschen are exhibiting together. The exact exhibits were not yet fixed by mid-August. According to Jelschen’s Jens Cordes, the company is currently examining a conversion of Peugeot’s new Traveller.

    Kadomo will definitely exhibit a vehicle with a rear cut-out and ramp, probably a converted Fiat Doblò. Paravan shows entry aids such as ramps and lifts as well as swivel and rotating seats, which may be marginally interesting for the mobile trade. Zawatzky, traditionally focused on self-drivers, addresses wheelchair transport only with a VW Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out.

    Stair climbers for varied uses exhibited by AAT Alber could interest specialists among taxi and hire-car operators. New in the range is a variant for patients weighing up to 230 kilograms including wheelchair. The largest model is said to manage 300 kilograms.

    No longer exhibiting is the converter who first targeted the wheelchair taxi category: Reha Automobile from Bad Zwischenahn now focuses strongly on taxi companies and thus attends only the European Taxi Fair in 2016.

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    Wheelchair users switch platforms by taxi

    News from 25/07/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    In the city of Rotenburg an der Fulda, two taxi operators spare arriving rail passengers in wheelchairs and with mobility impairments long detours.

    Since late July 2016, Rotenburg an der Fulda has offered wheelchair users and exceptionally mobility-impaired people a taxi service to switch between platforms 1 and 2 at the station. Although the platforms are connected by an underpass, it is not usable with rollators or wheelchairs. Wheelchair users or people whose disability ID bears the mark aG for "exceptionally mobility-impaired" can now have the roughly 1.5-kilometre detour covered at the city’s expense by wheelchair taxi.

    The city administration has concluded a written agreement with taxi companies Marggraf and Engel. It stipulates a flat price that, according to operator Jens Marggraf, applies to both taxis and hire cars, ensuring the necessary flexibility. Both companies have one wheelchair Caddy each and normally charge a surcharge for wheelchair transport. According to Thorsten de Weerd, responsible for the city’s administrative control, drivers must check the disability ID and note the passenger’s name, date and time for billing with the city. Billing is quarterly.

    "We wanted to offer the city a simple, uncomplicated solution," reports Jens Marggraf. "I suspect only a few trips will occur."

    This new service is particularly interesting for wheelchair users arriving by train from the city of Fulda and arriving on the side facing away from the city. The offer is initially advertised with signs on the platforms, which also carry the taxi operators’ phone numbers. It is also to be published in the railway’s portals so taxis can be booked in advance.

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    RETTmobil brought Rolli innovations in detail

    News from 14/05/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    For lack of new base vehicles for wheelchair taxis, the fair’s offerings essentially focused on new details around wheelchair securing.

    From 11 to 13 May 2016, the most interesting items for the mobile trade in Fulda were new modules for wheelchair taxis. Converter Activa from Borken, for example, presented in the VW Caddy Maxi 4 a laterally swing-out head and neck support from Schnierle. Mounted on rails above the left rear wheel arch, it is intended as a more affordable alternative to AMF-Bruns’ "Future Safe" system.

    The Apen converter, in turn, showed a new anchoring alternative for its Future Safe system in a Ford Transit. In this case, it is mounted on rails screwed to the side wall. In a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the rails are to disappear behind the side panelling except for their perforations, which is not possible in the more rustic Ford.

    AMF-Bruns’ second innovation was swivel/folding seats for the VW Caddy Maxi 4. Previously used only in the Ford Grand Tourneo out of necessity, since the factory third row cannot be used after installing a rear cut-out, the bank in the VW Caddy Maxi is usable, but the not-so-cheap swivel seats make the vehicle more flexible because you always have them on board. By contrast, the bench must be removed and stored somewhere for transporting a wheelchair user.

    Seat manufacturer Hermann Schnierle now offers a wheel-arch console that fits over the side wheel arches and bolts to the van’s factory floor. On top is a mounting rail for a longitudinally sliding, laterally swing-out seat with integrated three-point belt. The seat cushion folds up to save space, and the whole seat then swings to the wall when not needed. This solution aims to turn vans without system floors into flexible wheelchair vehicles.

    taxi heute presents these and other new detailed solutions in the fair follow-up report in issue 6-7/2016. A photo gallery of RETTmobil 2016 has also been compiled.

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    Wheelchair taxis: RETTmobil brings detailed innovations

    News from 02/05/2016 by Dietmar Fund

    The blue-light fair in Fulda will also present some developments of interest for transporting wheelchair users.

    From 11 to 13 May 2016, RETTmobil in Fulda will again showcase some innovations in wheelchair taxis. One of the most interesting is likely a VW Caddy Maxi with a long rear cut-out by AMF-Bruns. With swivel/folding seats, it can also be used as a flexible seven-seater, eliminating the need to remove and store the rear two-seat bench to transport a wheelchair user. AMF-Bruns also plans to show a Ford Transit with the Future Safe back and head supports mounted on the side wall.

    Activa Fahrzeugbau will also present a Caddy Maxi 4 with rear cut-out, flanked by two nine-seat Citroen vans that can transport up to six wheelchair users. If possible, Activa also wants to exhibit the new Citroen Jumpy.

    Reha Group Automotive will present a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect comparable to the Caddy Maxi with rear cut-out and a taxi ramp, as well as an Opel Movano van with wheelchair ramp and single seats. A similar concept is pursued by a Ford Transit with Smartfloor, linear lift and four wheelchair spaces, presented by Ford dealership Bayer.

    Schnierle shows a completely new lift mounted at the rear of vans. Wolf rounds out its range for the Fiat Doblò Maxi with high roof by adding an electric winch system for wheelchair tie-down belts, which could be quite useful for this vehicle concept due to the ramp sometimes rising steeply depending on length.

    RETTmobil’s exhibitor list also includes occasional taxi service providers such as MPC-Software, talex mobile solutions or billing firms. You can learn about rental workwear at Berendsen Textilservice or provider "diemietwäsche.de."

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    AMF-Bruns turns the Vito into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 22/07/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    With rear entry and two folding seats, the front-drive van becomes a multi-purpose vehicle.

    The Apen converter AMF-Bruns has developed a new rear entry for the front-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz Vito L2 with long wheelbase and standard rear overhang. It offers an 810 millimetre wide and 1,300 millimetre long wheelchair pan, a drive-through height of 1,500 millimetres and an interior height of 1,450 millimetres in the wheelchair area.

    For taxi operators, AMF-Bruns optionally offers its Easy-Flex ramp, which covers the wheelchair area when no wheelchair user is on board. With two side-swinging folding seats, the third row can still seat two passengers, meaning only one seat of the three-seat rear bench in the series vehicle is lost.

    AMF-Bruns offers the conversion into a multi-purpose vehicle for around 9,200 euros (plus VAT). Included in this price are, besides a four-point wheelchair restraint system and the Easy-Flex ramp for 350 euros, two swivel-folding seats costing 950 euros each with integrated three-point belts.

    The conversion is also possible in the Vito variant with longer rear overhang. The cut-out dimensions remain the same, so at most the interior and luggage space are slightly larger in this variant.

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    Berlin: VW Caddy Maxi 4 conversion expands special wheelchair taxi display

    News from 15/06/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    Parallel to evaluating 14 current taxi models, a special display of wheelchair-accessible vehicles is running, now supplemented by a new VW Caddy Maxi 4 with rear entry.

    Joachim Flämig, taxi contact at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, long wondered whether he could present a new VW Caddy Maxi 4 with rear cut-out at the special display during the "Taxis of the Year 2015" vote. Now it has definitely worked out. Flämig is exhibiting a "civilian" vehicle with AMF-Bruns rear entry and Comfortline trim. It already conforms to the converter’s new standard with a few centimetres more width and depth. AMF Bruns traditionally also supplies the kit to other converters.

    During the test phase from Friday, 3 July until Saturday afternoon, 4 July, four more converters will explain the details of their wheelchair taxis. Aris Diamantidis of European Van Service from Hanover brings a five-seat VW Caddy Maxi 3 with rear cut-out and a wide ramp, also equipped with the "Future Safe" head and back support. The wheelchair and wheelchair user can be secured as in this model in the long-wheelbase Ford Transit Connect from MobiTEC from Berkheim. Annette Schachtner, assistant to management and customer advisor, explains the five-seat conversion with a taxi ramp that covers the rear cut-out. MobiTEC wants to show the simpler base vehicle because it is ordered by many transport services.

    Markus Pacholke from wheelchair taxi pioneer Reha-Automobile Bad Zwischenahn brings a VW Caddy Maxi 3 as a taxi with "ultra cut-out" that extends particularly far forward and is thus also suitable for patients in care wheelchairs. Although a taxi ramp cannot be installed here, the rear cut-out can be covered when no wheelchair user is to be transported.

    Michael Kopitzki, sales representative of Reha Group Automotive from Berlin, presents a VW Caddy Maxi 3 with rear entry and "flex ramp" as a seven-seat "all-round model." Its rear cut-out is supplied as a kit by industry supplier API. Kopitzki will also provide information on a Kirchhoff Group in-house development for the Ford Grand Tourneo Connect. Reha Group Automotive belongs to the same parent group as well-known converter Jelschen, the Kirchhoff group.

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    Rolli taxi operator enriches seminar on wheelchair taxis

    News from 11/06/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    At the taxi heute seminar "What opportunities do wheelchair taxis offer?" in Berlin, an experienced dispatcher from a taxi company in Michendorf reports on his experience with wheelchair taxis in his fleet on 4 July 2015.

    The market for wheelchair taxis in Berlin is apparently so difficult that many operators avoid these vehicles. taxi heute therefore took a long time to find a taxi operator to speak for half an hour on 4 July 2015 between 3 and 5 p.m. about his experiences with this vehicle category. Through the mediation of Matthias Liebetanz of Volkswagen Automobile Berlin, Peter Bürger has been recruited as a speaker.

    Bürger is a dispatcher at the family business Ka & Pe Fahrservice GmbH. He has operated wheelchair taxis in his Michendorf taxi business for more than 15 years. The operator will neutrally report in the seminar on the advantages and disadvantages of wheelchair taxis in a taxi business and also address differences between city and countryside. He complements the talks by BZP President Michael Müller and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles’ handicap specialist Gerd Schmees.

    Info on the programme and costs as well as a link to registration can be found here.

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    Seminar by taxi heute: What opportunities do wheelchair taxis offer?

    News from 18/05/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    On 4 July, taxi heute will provide a two-hour seminar in Berlin on the market opportunities for wheelchair taxis and the wishes of wheelchair users.

    When hearing "wheelchair taxi", many taxi and hire-car operators think only of patient transport. That is too narrow, because more and more people who rely on a wheelchair or an electric scooter want to take a greater part in life outside the workplace. For example, they want to go to family celebrations, to friends, to festivals or the theatre and can afford the ride there.

    taxi heute’s seminar "What opportunities do wheelchair taxis offer?" shows how to address this target group and what matters legally, technically and humanly. It takes place on 4 July 2015 between 3 and 5 p.m. at HUSS-MEDIEN GmbH in Berlin near Alexanderplatz. Michael Müller, President of the German Taxi and Hire Car Association (BZP), explains to participants the legal and technical basics and the market opportunities of wheelchair taxis. His topics include:

    The current valid status of the DIN for wheelchair taxisRegulations for securing wheelchairs and wheelchair usersNecessary, advisable and uneconomic equipmentThe market volume of privately paid wheelchair trips

    Gerd Schmees, himself a wheelchair user and specialist for handicap customers at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, presents the passengers’ perspective. He describes which aspects are important to mobility-impaired passengers and which of the details that converters like to highlight are really important. He addresses, among others:

    Wishes regarding entry via a ramp or liftIs a level wheelchair space better than an inclined one?Which restraints do wheelchair users themselves want?Wishes regarding taxi drivers

    Peter Bürger, dispatcher at the family business Ka & Pe Fahrservice GmbH in Michendorf, reports to his colleagues on his many years of experience operating wheelchair taxis in a taxi business. He neutrally describes their pros and cons and addresses differences between city and countryside that must be considered in an investment decision.

    Parallel to the seminar, participants can obtain information in a special exhibition about the latest wheelchair-accessible vehicles from MobiTEC, Reha Automobile Bad Zwischenahn, REHA Group Automotive and European Van Service. Sponsors include mobile GARANTIE Deutschland, TE Taxiteile Berlin, internet tyre dealer Delticom AG, developer and converter Intax and the Taxizentrum Berlin-Brandenburg.

    The seminar is embedded in the "Taxi of the Year 2015" event. Admission is included in the price for that event’s participants.

    The seminar can also be booked separately. More information and the registration link can be found here.

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    Opel Combo wheelchair taxi at a promotional price

    News from 12/05/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    Schoon Fahrzeugsysteme converts the high-roof MPV for 1,900 euros.

    Schoon Fahrzeugsysteme & Metalltechnik GmbH offers a wheelchair conversion of the Opel Combo Kombi with high roof in both lengths at a promotional price of 1,900 euros (excl. VAT). The conversion includes a 2,400 millimetre long and 800 millimetre wide aluminium ramp, certified mounting rails for locking a wheelchair, a "Quick Secure" system for securing the wheelchair and wheelchair user with four retractors, and a diagonal shoulder belt. DEKRA approval and a report are also included in the price.

    In the short L1H2 variant, the vehicle can be used either as a five-seater or as a three-seater with one wheelchair user. In the long wheelbase L2H2, a smaller wheelchair fits behind the five passenger seats, while in the short wheelbase at least the left two-seat bench in the direction of travel must be folded down depending on wheelchair dimensions.

    Sales consultant Christopher Kreklau states a conversion time of 15 to 20 working days after receipt of the base vehicle. That is likely a Fiat Doblò with high roof despite the Opel’s recent facelift, since Opel sources the Combo from Fiat and this is a two-invoice transaction. The promotional price applies to orders placed by 31/12/2015.

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    Upper Palatinate taxi operators fail with wheelchair surcharge

    News from 17/04/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    A disability organisation and the disability commissioner would consider a surcharge discriminatory, writes the district administration office.

    Matthias Renner, whose wife owns Taxi Renner from Eschenbach in the Upper Palatinate, is currently negotiating a new taxi tariff with the Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab District Administration Office. The chairman of the Interessengemeinschaft Taxi-Mietwagen NEW-WEN had to learn that the requested surcharge for wheelchair transport was rejected. Jürgen Biller, head of traffic, cited statements by the Vereinigung kommunaler Interessenvertreter von Menschen mit Behinderung in Bayern e.V. (VKIB) and the district’s disability commissioner. Both would consider a wheelchair surcharge discriminatory.

    The Interessengemeinschaft Taxi-Mietwagen NEW-WEN was founded in September 2014. It organises 34 taxi and hire-car operators from the Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab district and the independent city of Weiden, whose licence plate codes are reflected in the name. The second chair alongside Matthias Renner is Weiden taxi operator Georg Feiler. Secretary is Harald Bernhardt, authorised officer of the newly founded Taxi Zentrale Weiden GmbH. According to them, only three sole proprietors in the region are not in the IG.

    The interest group, not registered as a club, was founded to counter health insurers’ online tenders. In addition to tariff negotiations, the IG is currently talking to the railway, which suddenly wanted to charge high monthly fees for a run-down car park at Weiden station. In the medium term, the IG plans to negotiate joint terms for fuel and tyres.

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    RETTmobil brings new wheelchair taxis

    News from 23/03/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    The special vehicle fair in Fulda could again offer taxi and hire-car operators specialities to tap new niches.

    From 6 to 8 May 2015, the RETTmobil fair will be held for the 15th time in exhibition tents on the outskirts of Fulda, where wheelchair taxi converters also exhibit. Activa will show six vehicles, one of which is said to be suitable for up to six wheelchair users.

    AMF-Bruns wants to present its longer and wider rear cut-out for the VW Caddy 4 as a new kit. Another innovation is a vehicle for transporting disabled persons (BTW) based on Opel’s large Movano van at Opel’s stand. AMF-Bruns hopes to show a new Ford Transit with Smartfloor, linear lift and step. Ford dealer Fiegl is expected to display a member of the well-known Connect series.

    For the Reha Group Automotive, which belongs to the Kirchhoff group, the nearby Schlitz site will exhibit at RETTmobil. The group’s specialist for rear entries, Jelschen, will not be present in Fulda.

    Schnierle is presenting a belt column for securing wheelchair users with an integrated lap belt and headrest. It is intended for mounting on perforated rail floors.

    Wolf is still working on base vehicles of the new Fiat Doblò, the new VW Caddy 4 and the new Ford Transit. They are to be presented with wheelchair conversions.

    According to Petra Dehler-Udolph, Managing Director of Messe Fulda GmbH, the organiser will only publish the exhibitor list in mid-April on its homepage (www.rettmobil.org).

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    BAO turns affordable vans into wheelchair taxis

    News from 11/02/2015 by Dietmar Fund

    The Oldenburg converter equips the Hyundai H1 Travel and Ford Transit Custom with a rear cut-out.

    As an alternative to the much more expensive base vehicles VW T5 and Mercedes-Benz Vito, BAO Behinderten-Automobile Oldenburg GmbH equips the Ford Transit Custom with a rear cut-out. It is 1,300 millimetres long and 790 millimetres wide. Drive-through height is 1,470 millimetres, interior height 1,460 millimetres. The conversion price is 6,429 euros (excl. VAT).

    For the Ford, BAO offers two adapters for mounting the factory bench in the rear cut-out. This retains the possibility of driving fully seated as long as the wheelchair space is not needed. The ramp remains upright behind the tailgate in either case. Because the rear overhang is the same with the long wheelbase as with the short, the cut-out could not be longer in the long wheelbase.

    Less flexible is the also fairly priced Hyundai H1 Travel. According to BAO, it is the only converter in Europe to equip it with a rear pan for a wheelchair user. The cut-out is around 1,400 millimetres long and 700 millimetres wide. Drive-through height is 1,430 millimetres, but the clear height above the wheelchair space is only 1,340 millimetres because the rear axle differential occupies space. The conversion price is the same as for the Ford.

    As TÜV does not allow installation of the heavy third-row bench instead of the wheelchair space, the H1 is a five-seater after conversion. Nevertheless, BAO has already delivered it to two taxi or hire-car operators.

    Managing Director Andreas Prause is responding with the two conversions to demand from families wanting a van’s space with a wheelchair space at an affordable price. For utility-oriented taxi and hire-car operators, the Ford conversion could be especially interesting.

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    Two rental companies keep wheelchair users mobile

    News from 26/09/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    At Rehacare International in Düsseldorf, Europcar and AVIS each showed a VW Caddy Maxi with rear entry, configured for self- and passive users. Europcar has rented such vehicles for three years and currently has 20 in the fleet. Ten run through the Düsseldorf station, the rest are distributed across "Special Mobility Stations" in six major cities, where customers are instructed in the vehicles and wheelchair securing. According to Peter Schriever, station manager in Düsseldorf, the vehicles are popular with families for a weekend or for outings with care home residents, and are also used as replacement vehicles after accidents.

    AVIS has rented wheelchair vehicles converted by Paravan for five years. According to Sven Bischoff, who currently manages 15 of these for the entire German network, the vehicles are often booked by families. AVIS also receives regular inquiries from tourists who find the offer via the website.

    Taxi and hire-car operators with wheelchair vehicles should see both rental companies’ commitment to the mobility of physically handicapped people as an indication of a small private market. After all, people who only occasionally want to embark on an outing with a wheelchair user are likely uncertain about securing the wheelchair and the wheelchair user.

    Wheelchair specialists should therefore raise public awareness that they are experts in such transport and take all the worries about handling the wheelchair off customers’ shoulders. With them, wheelchair users do not have to book days or even weeks in advance, as with aid organisations.

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    Flexible wheelchair taxi from Tripod Mobility

    News from 26/09/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    The Dutch converter and its German sales partner Kadomo showed at Rehacare International a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect that can be used as a wheelchair taxi and as a seven-seater.

    The only real novelty at the Düsseldorf public fair Rehacare International was presented by Udo Spieker at Kadomo and his Dutch conversion partner Tripod Mobility: a Ford Grand Tourneo Connect with rear cut-out. Its wheelchair space is 78 centimetres wide, starts behind the asymmetrical factory bench recessed into the footwell in the second row, and offers around 1.42 metres length with the bench installed. If you lower the wider left part, length increases to 1.49 metres.

    Two fold-and-swing single seats with integrated three-point belts can be ordered for the third row. Parked against the wall, they swing in with a flick after unlocking. They are latched as soon as the seat cushion is folded down. In both the third and second rows, passengers around 1.85 metres tall have plenty of legroom. Headroom is also good in the Ford. An inward-folding ramp to cover the floor cut-out is available on request.

    Kadomo in Hilden is the Dutch company’s German sales partner. As Udo Spieker explained, the company moved a year ago into the fully refurbished property formerly occupied by Reha Group Automotive’s Hilden site. After its sale to the Kirchhoff group, some employees founded Kadomo five and a half years ago. Since recently, the company has three sites in Hilden, Berlin and Schwarzenbach am Wald near Hof. There, the previously well-known entrepreneur Gerhard Röttger, especially for his dual-control cable systems for driving schools, has joined as a sales and conversion partner.

    Tripod Mobility equips the Ford Grand Tourneo Connect with a proprietary rear cut-out. That takes an average of 18 working days, Spieker reported at the fair. According to Tripod Mobility, Scheffler Mobilität in Hattingen is another sales partner in Germany.

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    Field rep presents wheelchair taxis on site

    News from 25/08/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    Converter Jelschen also presents its wheelchair taxis directly at taxi operators’ premises on request.

    Wheelchair taxis, with their ramps, moving parts and wheelchair restraint systems, require explanation. That’s why Bad Zwischenahn converter Jelschen GmbH has deployed sales consultant Frank Venekamp in field service since this year.

    He arrives with a wheelchair taxi and explains at leisure everything that matters in such a vehicle. You can arrange a demonstration with him by phone on +49 4403 9389-26 or by email at frank_venekamp@jelschen.de.

    Venekamp currently demonstrates a VW Caddy Maxi with rear entry. Since Jelschen adapts the basic construction to new base vehicles, the sales consultant can also provide information on conversions of other types.

    The field rep supports Jelschen’s sales consultants, at least one of whom is stationed at each of the REHA Group Automotive GmbH & Co. KG’s nine German locations. Like Jelschen GmbH, it belongs to the Kirchhoff Mobility umbrella.

    Jelschen is the group’s specialist for rear entries, accounting for around 80 percent of roughly 500 annual conversions in Bad Zwischenahn. According to Sales Manager Jens Cordes, around 50 of those are wheelchair taxis. For maintenance and repair work, Jelschen customers can go to any of the locations.

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    VdTÜV forum also focuses on wheelchair taxis

    News from 25/08/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    In Berlin, one of three focus areas is dedicated to transporting passengers in wheelchairs.

    Safe transport of wheelchair users by transport services, securing wheelchairs in vehicles, and the appealing topic "Theory and practice in wheelchair transport" are on the programme of the 3rd Forum on Mobility for People with Disabilities. The Association of TÜV (VdTÜV) is hosting it on 10/11 November 2014 at the nhow Hotel in Berlin.

    On the evening before, only a panel discussion and a get-together are scheduled. The essential content is presented on 11 November between 9:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. in several sessions.

    The event’s patron is the Federal Government Commissioner for the Interests of People with Disabilities, the well-known blind athlete Verena Bentele. Participation costs 169 euros (plus VAT). The programme and a registration form are available at www.vdtuev.de/behindertengerechte-mobilitaet.

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    Jelschen turns Ford Tourneo Connect into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 22/08/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    Both length variants are fitted with rear entry and a ramp.

    Bad Zwischenahn converter Jelschen GmbH has developed rear entries for the Ford Tourneo Connect and Transit Connect and their extended variants to transport wheelchair users. Both are 810 millimetres wide. The short version has a 1,390 millimetre long floor cut-out, the longer one 1,450 millimetres. Interior height in the wheelchair area is around 1,450 millimetres for both wheelbases. Drive-through height is 1,400 millimetres. The 300-kilogram-rated ramp can be ordered in two lengths: 1,100 and 1,480 millimetres.

    With the short wheelbase, only the single seat at the right sliding door remains in the second row. Jelschen is examining whether another single seat could be installed on the left. With the long wheelbase, it’s the other way around: the three-seat bench remains usable depending on wheelchair size. The conversion costs from 5,750 euros plus VAT and TÜV approval for both lengths.

    There is currently no seven-seat variant, but it is planned. A taxi ramp is being developed for both lengths to cover the floor cut-out when the wheelchair space is not needed. Jelschen plans to present it at the European Taxi Fair in Cologne.

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    Wheelchair taxis step in at rail works

    News from 19/08/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    The Karlsruhe transport association implements barrier-free replacement services with the local taxi dispatch centre.

    During the summer holidays, buses replace trains on several lines of the Karlsruhe Transport Association (KVV) while tracks are refurbished. As not all replacement buses can take wheelchair users, the KVV has implemented a solution with wheelchair taxis in cooperation with the Karlsruhe taxi dispatch centre.

    Passengers must pay for their wheelchair taxi at the end of the journey and note on their receipt which light rail, tram or regional rail line they would otherwise have taken. They must then send this receipt, stating their bank details, by post or email to the KVV, which reimburses the costs. Internally, costs are distributed according to route among the three partners Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe, Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft and Deutsche Bahn.

    Taxi and hire-car operators in regions where trains are largely barrier-free might also draw the attention of local transport providers to this customer-friendly solution.

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    Wolf offers swing-away wheelchair ramp

    News from 04/04/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    The side-folding ramp makes it easier to load luggage instead of a wheelchair or behind the wheelchair space.

    Backnang vehicle builder Wolf GmbH also offers a side-swinging ramp for wheelchair taxis. It is locked rattle-free with two belt buckles. With one hand movement, it can be swung 90 degrees to the side, making it easy to load luggage into the wheelchair taxi.

    The component costs 1,500 to 1,600 euros depending on the desired length and width (prices excl. VAT) plus installation. Including installation, one should expect about 2,600 to 2,700 euros net, says sales staffer Holger Kurzer.

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    AMF turns Transit Connect into a wheelchair taxi

    News from 18/03/2014 by Dietmar Fund

    With the "Easy-Flex ramp" and two additional seats, the Ford becomes a serious competitor to the VW Caddy Maxi.

    Wheelchair transport specialist AMF-Bruns has recently turned the compact van Ford Transit Connect into a multi-purpose taxi. It uses the short wheelbase as the basis for a five-seater, and the long wheelbase for a seven-seater. The factory three-seat bench and exhaust remain after conversion. The rear cut-out for the wheelchair space is 810 millimetres wide and up to 1,600 millimetres long. Drive-through height is 1,470 millimetres for vehicles with a tailgate and 1,420 millimetres for those with rear doors.

    Taxi and hire-car operators can cover the rear cut-out with the optional Easy-Flex ramp. Two swivel-folding seats can be ordered for the third row on the long wheelbase. They make the long Connect a seven-seater, while with a wheelchair user on board it still offers four passenger seats. On the short wheelbase, at most two additional passengers can ride alongside a passenger in a wheelchair.

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    5 euro taxi surcharge for the wheelchair

    News from 17/12/2013 by Editorial (general)

    Several Essen taxi drivers caused negative headlines with a legally unjustified luggage surcharge for a wheelchair.

    As the Westfälische Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) reported, a wheelchair user from Rostock had to pay an extra 5 euros several times in Essen for the transport of her folding wheelchair. The public, but also large parts of the taxi industry itself, reacted with outrage, according to WAZ.

    Albert Mertes, board member of the Essen taxi cooperative, "hastened to distance himself from such reputation-damaging practices." His cooperative has a code of conduct, the violation of which is punished with fines.

    The managing director of a company with 20 taxis in Borbeck also used clear words to the WAZ, calling it a "disgrace." In his taxi business, mainly elderly and sick people are transported, whether with rollator or wheelchair. That is what they live on.

    An affected taxi operator has now expressly apologised for his driver’s misconduct, but also clarified that it was an isolated incident and neither malice nor rip-off was behind it.

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    Special exhibition for Rolli taxis

    News from 04/04/2013 by Editorial (general)

    Parallel to Europe’s largest taxi comparison test "Taxi of the Year," organiser Huss-Verlag is hosting a special exhibition. Various conversion specialists will present wheelchair taxi solutions on 24 and 25 May 2013 in Fulda.

    Carrying passengers sitting in a wheelchair is an interesting and important additional business for taxi and hire-car companies. The special exhibition "Vehicles for people with disabilities" therefore offers all companies active or interested in this area the opportunity to learn about suitable vehicles and current conversion developments and prices. Established companies recognised in the taxi industry such as Helmut Jelschen GmbH, AMF Bruns (already showing a conversion based on the new Dacia Dokker), Reha-Automobile, MobiTec and Handicap Mobil have confirmed their attendance.

    The special exhibition can be visited free of charge on Friday, 24 May 2013 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday, 25 May from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The vehicles will be exhibited in the car park of the Hotel Esperanto, close to Fulda’s ICE railway station (see our event overview).

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    Frankfurt launches first centrally dispatched wheelchair taxi

    News from 18/10/2012 by Editorial (general)

    For customers with disabilities, getting a wheelchair-accessible taxi at short notice is still difficult in many cities. In Frankfurt am Main, these customers can now spontaneously order a converted Caddy taxi via a central phone number.

    This wheelchair taxi was made possible by dispatch centre "Taxi 68," the German Multiple Sclerosis Society (DMSG) and financial support from VW dealership Luft.

    "Taxi companies are important industry representatives and an integral part of Frankfurt’s transport infrastructure. They are well on their way to being perceived as a positive calling card for our city for national and international guests," said public order councillor Markus Frank, responsible for the taxi trade, at the presentation of the wheelchair taxi. The vehicle is available not only to a small clientele, but to all callers—Frankfurters and visitors alike.

    Thomas Schmidt, managing director of the dispatch centre, emphasised: "Potential passengers can book this service taxi with us at short notice and around the clock, and no longer have to plan their activities several days in advance."

    Councillor Frank thanked Schmidt for his commitment to improving taxi customer service in Frankfurt and the sponsor, VW dealership Luft from Eschborn and Kronberg, which sponsored more than 5,000 euros net for the wheelchair conversion of the VW Caddy taxi. Future maintenance has also been assured.

    "I am certain the wheelchair taxi will be well accepted by potential customers and hope that many more will follow this example," the city’s representative underlined.

    (sk)

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    Mercedes Citan as a wheelchair vehicle

    News from 12/10/2012 by Editorial (general)

    During a visit to this year’s Rehacare trade fair, the taxi heute editorial team encountered some interesting innovations not only at the Mercedes stand.

    Each year, Düsseldorf’s fair organiser hosts an international trade fair for rehabilitation, care, prevention and integration of people with disabilities. The latter includes mobility, which is why numerous car manufacturers and converters are present at Rehacare. Their mobility solutions for wheelchair users cover two areas: active and passive drivers. For the taxi trade, conversions for passive users, i.e. people transported while sitting in the wheelchair, are of interest.

    Conversion methods range from the classic rear cut-out including air suspension to the fully automatic tail lift. Models from various manufacturers are converted, with the Volkswagen Caddy still the most frequently made wheelchair-accessible.

    At the fair, however, converters surprised with several other models. Italian company "Fiorella" enables access to a Fiat Doblo with a high roof via an electric ramp, thus avoiding a rear cut-out. The Bad Zwischenahn firm Jelschen has implemented a rear cut-out in the new Opel Combo for the first time. And just weeks after its market launch, Mercedes presented the Citan with wheelchair access at its stand. The first prototype featured a rear cut-out. The conversion is by Mobitec.

    A detailed report on this and other solutions can be found in the next print issue of taxi heute, published on 27 October.

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    Fees for wheelchair transport are too low

    News from 05/04/2012 by Editorial (general)

    The Lower Saxony state association "GVN" has rejected a current offer from health insurers for wheelchair transport as unacceptable.

    As reported by the Taxi and Hire Car Association in the Gesamtverband Verkehrsgewerbe Niedersachsen (GVN), insurers recently submitted an offer for the remaining seven wheelchair agreements.

    It provides kilometre rates equivalent to those for seated transport. The base fee is around 15 euros for a 10-kilometre trip, which in many cases would mean lowering the already too-low fees. "We simply cannot and will not accept this," said the GVN’s Taxi and Hire Car Association. Instead, it is pushing for a statewide fee agreement for wheelchair transport.

    All GVN-affiliated Lower Saxony operators who transport non-transferable wheelchair users are therefore invited to an information and discussion event to examine the current situation and options for establishing a statewide agreement for wheelchair transport.

    The event will likely take place on 16 April in Hanover (see our events overview). Operators wishing to attend must register in writing for organisational reasons (a fax form is attached to this report) and will then receive detailed information about the event.

    The association again points out that operators performing wheelchair trips with non-transferable passengers under GVN agreements must provide proof of suitable vehicles to the vdek representation in Lower Saxony as well as to AOK Niedersachsen and Knappschaft Bahn-See to avoid being left out of pocket.

    (sk)

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    Electric taxi with wheelchair ramp

    News from 01/12/2011 by Editorial (general)

    In Klagenfurt, a first electric taxi is in service that can also carry wheelchair users.

    While in German cities (Munich, Hagen) electric taxis are only used as impractical small cars, the Austrian city of Klagenfurt is launching the first minibuses named "Delta-2Shuttle." These models were developed by E-Wolf based on a Nissan NV200. They achieve an electric range of 160 kilometres. The first prototype is already running; four more vehicles are to follow by January. One of these will even be equipped for barrier-free transport of wheelchair users. The German conversion company "Jelschen" performed the conversion (we report in the December print issue of taxi heute).
    The e-taxis are part of the e-mobility project "Cemobil" launched by the City of Klagenfurt in 2010. The project aims to demonstrate that e-mobility works in European cities like Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, thereby enabling an effective and sustainable improvement in environmental quality without severely restricting individual mobility.

    At the same time, it aims to show a valuable contribution to climate protection and achieving the Kyoto target by ensuring that electricity for the e-vehicles comes entirely from renewable sources.

    In addition to the taxis mentioned, over 60 other electric vehicles (44 cars, 10 e-bikes, 10 scooters, 1 e-bus and even 1 solar boat for the Lendkanal) will be purchased and tested, and the necessary infrastructure built. Fifty charging stations will be installed by project partner Land Kärnten in the Klagenfurt area. Another 50 charging points are to be added through private initiatives (e.g. housing associations, shopping centres, etc.).

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    Wheelchair transport with liability risk

    News from 24/11/2011 by Editorial (general)

    A forum in Berlin on safe transport of people with disabilities made clear that, amid a thicket of regulations, transport services are left alone with liability risks.

    The safe transport of people with disabilities was the focus of a forum "Mobility for People with Disabilities" organised by the Association of TÜV e.V. Experts from associations, companies and authorities discussed the challenges of safe and at the same time barrier-free mobility.

    Central to the talks were questions arising from the regulatory changes since April 2010 to the requirements for transporting wheelchair users. Extensive crash tests by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BAST) and the TÜV show that both the wheelchair securing systems and belts for disabled passengers used until then offered only limited protection. Rudolf Gerlach of TÜV Rheinland demonstrated with videos how quickly wheelchair occupants become playthings of inertia forces in improper securing even in minor rear-end collisions—often with fatal consequences. He urged BAST not to focus solely on the so-called "Kraftknoten." This is an adapter system attached to the wheelchair, in which the tie-down belts hold the wheelchair with minimal forces. Dr. Thorsten Adolph, BAST representative, opened the forum with a talk and reported on planned updates to DIN standard 75078 Part II for mid-2012, clarifying that the "Kraftknoten" would remain central.

    The problem: Due to an amendment of the Medical Devices Act (MPG), wheelchairs that do not meet the requirements of European standard ISO 7176-19 may no longer be used in passenger transport. Newly sold wheelchairs must demonstrate transport suitability with a label.

    If the mobility-impaired person has a wheelchair whose label forbids transport in a vehicle, every carrier—from professional transport services to taxi operators—must refuse the ride. Otherwise, they would be fully liable for injuries sustained by the wheelchair user in a possible accident. This was confirmed unequivocally by an expert from a certification company in his closing talk.

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    "Wheelchair taxis are constantly booked out"

    News from 05/11/2009 by Editorial (general)

    Taxi accessibility for people with disabilities was discussed by various experts at a forum during the North German Taxi Day. A wheelchair user also presented her wish list to the taxi and trade.

    Before that, Thomas Grätz from the BZP made clear in a talk that the accessibility issue in taxis has long been discussed worldwide within the International Road Union (IRU). Recently, three recommendations were issued: to define technical requirements for an accessible taxi; to implement suitable structural measures at taxi stands to enable barrier-free entry for wheelchair users; and, last but not least, to provide appropriate driver training. The latter could convey exactly the points that Heike Witsch from the German Association for Self-Help for the Physically Disabled (BSK) set out in her talk as a wish list: Drivers should offer help but never impose it. The wheelchair securing system should be visibly checked and explained to unfamiliar customers. Reliability and punctuality should be taken for granted, as should a smooth driving style. Ms Witsch has been physically disabled since birth and relies on a wheelchair. As the state representative for Schleswig-Holstein, she is always travelling a lot. She has to plan her journeys meticulously, and the taxi to or from the station is the first or last link in her travel chain. "All the taxi firms I use are booked up," Ms Witsch described her own experiences. For her, this means always pre-booking. Spontaneous leisure activities, especially in the evening, are not feasible. She wishes more taxi firms would provide wheelchair-accessible vehicles. "Taxi is the way for us to engage in leisure activities."

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    Wheelchair passenger injured in accident

    News from 14/05/2009 by Editorial (general)

    In Münster last week, a woman in a wheelchair taxi was injured during an emergency stop because she was not properly secured. And that is not the only such accident.

    Fortunately, the passenger in Münster was only slightly injured. In another accident near Paderborn a few months ago, however, a wheelchair ramp turned into a fatal projectile and killed a 16-year-old girl. Such incidents show how important it is for taxi drivers offering wheelchair transport to properly secure their passengers. In our June 2009 print issue, we explain in detail using a VW T5 as an example the different ways to convert it for transporting disabled persons and what to look out for in terms of safety. Photo: Schoon Fahrzeugsysteme

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    Wheelchair taxi: General information

    A wheelchair taxi is specially equipped to safely transport people in wheelchairs. Such vehicles feature ramps or lifts, sufficient interior height, and fixtures to securely fasten the wheelchair during the journey. In addition to classic saloons, large-capacity taxis or estates are often used and appropriately converted.

    The equipment adheres to legal requirements and technical standards to ensure barrier-free access. In many cities, there is a mandatory quota for accessible taxis to ensure the availability of wheelchair taxis.

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    Frequently asked questions about wheelchair taxis (Q&A)

    What is a wheelchair taxi?
    A wheelchair taxi is a taxi with barrier-free access in which passengers can be transported while remaining in their wheelchair.

    Which vehicles are suitable as wheelchair taxis?
    Usually spacious estates, vans or minibuses. They are equipped with ramps, lifts and securing systems through conversions.

    How safe is transport in a wheelchair taxi?
    The vehicles are equipped with special restraint systems and safety belts that fix the wheelchair during the journey. The same safety standards apply as for other passengers.

    Are there subsidies for wheelchair taxis?
    In some regions, municipalities or states support the procurement of accessible taxis to ensure comprehensive services. The rules vary by location.

    How can I order a wheelchair taxi?
    In larger cities, wheelchair taxis can be booked via the normal taxi dispatch centres. In rural areas, it is advisable to reserve the ride in advance.

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    Content automatically translated.

    Taxi-Fahrzeuge (Pkw) , Taxi-Newsletter, Taxameter, Taxi-Fahrer , BZP – Deutscher Taxi- und Mietwagenverband , Straßenverkehrsordnung (StVO) , Krankenbeförderung , Weiterbildung , Taxi-Konzessionen , Verkehrspolitik , Mietwagenbranche , Taxi-Apps , Berufskraftfahrer-Qualifikations-Gesetz BKrFQG) , Taxizentralen , Personal, Gehälter, Arbeitsschutz , Wirtschaftsnachrichten , Werbung , Taxi-Folierung , Taxi-Umrüster , Straßenverkehr , Elektromobilität, Taxifuhrpark und -flottenmanagement , Taxi-Versicherungen , Hybrid, Diesel, Erdgas , Taxi-Magazin

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