Under the Human Rights Act, disability assist dogs are entitled to travel on all forms of public transport, including in taxis. Photo: 123rf
A blind person advocacy group says guide dog handlers are being frequently discriminated against by taxi drivers and ridesharing companies.
Blind Low Vision New Zealand community and inclusion general manager Dan Shepherd said it was hearing widespread reports of people with assistance dogs being refused taxis, or being ignored altogether when waiting for a ride.
Under the Human Rights Act, disability assist dogs are entitled to travel on all forms of public transport, including in taxis.
Blind people with guide dogs left on the curb by taxis
Shepherd told Nine to Noon assistance dog users now expected to be challenged when using taxis and rideshare companies.
"As a guide dog handler myself, you come to expect an interaction or your access being questioned when it comes to rideshares and taxis, as opposed to getting free and available access to participate in your community," he said.
Dan Shepherd and his guide dog Ezra Photo: credit to Blind Low Vision NZ.
There had been instances when Shepherd and his dog Ezra had been waiting outside a restaurant for an Uber, only for the driver to cancel or drive past, he said.
"In those situations you have two options: you can try and book another Uber or call a taxi company, or you can contact your whānau and ask for a ride home from them.
"It takes away your independence in that moment and requires action from your support network."
On another occasion, he and Ezra waited at a taxi rank outside Auckland's Sylvia Park Mall for almost half an hour as four taxis from the same company drove away without passengers.
"Ezra and I do do a lot of travel as part of my role ... and I can say that this isn't isolated to one part of New Zealand, it's across the country," Shepherd said.
Although there had been instances of guide dog users being ignored by drivers, there had also been occasions where drivers had refused to provide a service.
This showed taxi and rideshare companies had a "lack of awareness" of the rights of disability assistance animals, he said.
"Those interactions would start and I'm empowered enough to stop and have a conversation with people.
"I talk about the rights that Ezra has to access a taxi and that's followed up with a myriad of excuses to try and make sure my dog can't access the car."
The reasons given included claims the company did not allow dogs, the driver was allergic or their car was "too old or small" for dogs, he said.
"The guide dog community is a small one but it does really hit home as to how big the issue is."
Shepherd said declining access to taxis and rideshares was a barrier to employment for guide dog users, resulting in employees calling in sick, or having discussions with managers about their performance.
Small Passenger Service Association executive director Warren Quirke told Nine to Noon drivers should be aware of the laws.
However, he admitted some potentially were not.
"Entry into the industry now is very easy. There's a reliance on self-compliance, there's a reliance on the driver expecting to know the rules.
"They really should know, as a minimum."
Identifying the drivers who had been the subject of complaints was difficult, Quirke said.
"If it was one of our member companies I would report back," he said.
"But really this is up to the NZTA, this is in their field."
Quirke said NZTA compliance officers needed to be doing monitoring of taxi ranks.
An Uber spokesperson said riders with assitance animals had the same rights as any rider with access to their services.
"The distress of being refused service because of an assistance animal is not something we take lightly, and we are committed to continually trying to improve the experience for riders' with assistance animals on our platform," the statement said.
"This includes liaising with industry stakeholders and experts to develop strong policies, tools and driver educational modules to prevent refusals from happening on the Uber platform."
The ridesharing company said as a result of responding to direct feedback from users with assistance animals, it had developed an "industry-first, specialised program of support", alongside enhanced driver education on assistance animals.
"This initiative invites riders with an assistance animal to voluntarily opt-in to access features that are designed to improve their experience on the platform.
"This program will evolve over time in line with feedback received from the blind and low vision community."