What is Handicab?

Handicab brings a brand new way of doing taxicab business here to Clark County. Handicab’s goal is to provide courteous, dependable, and affordable transportation to handicapped residents and visitors and the general public.

Its principal founder, Rob Martin, has a brother who is mentally challenged and a sister who is legally blind. Now that his mother is getting older, Rob sees firsthand the problems older Nevadans face with mobility. Additionally, Rob served on the Opportunity Village board for a number of years and saw unserved transportation needs there, too.

Those personal experiences inspired Rob and his partners to rethink how taxicabs operate—and can operate—here in Southern Nevada. There just has to be a better way.

Handicab will be unlike other taxicab companies in a number of important ways . . .

• Every taxicab in the Handicab fleet will be equipped to accommodate most handicapped requirements.
• Each Handicab driver will receive special training in the needs of handicapped and disabled passengers.
• Handicab dispatchers will be trained to recognize those needs and relay them to the drivers.
• All Handicab taxis will be GPS equipped to better route cabs and cut down on long waits.

Handicab is the first company to apply for recognition as a new taxi company in a long, long time. State law created the Nevada Taxicab Authority which regulates the taxicab business in Clark County, and only here. Handicab’s application will be heard by the Nevada Taxicab Authority and its five person board.

While every taxi in the Handicab fleet will be equipped to accommodate most handicapped requirements, Handicab will offer its prompt, courteous service to the general public as well. Still, the Handicab company ethic of providing transportation to the underserved will remain a training and dispatch priority.

The existing taxicab companies oppose the Handicab application for a license and say they meet the needs of handicapped residents and visitors. Handicab disagrees. There is a real need, and there is a better way to meet that need.

The stories listed here are real—and Handicab encourages you to submit your own stories as well. There are those who gave up on even trying to get a taxi for trips from home to the doctor’s office. Others wait patiently for hours or try to use the overburdened public transportation systems. Some depend on the kindness of relatives or neighbors. Tell us your taxicab story, or, as we call it “My Taxicab Story.”

Mission statement for Handicab, llc

Transportation services for the disabled have never kept pace with the tremendous growth in the Las Vegas Valley. Like every other portion of our population, disabled citizens have moved to our vibrant community from across America. The advent of housing developments aimed at retirees raises our population of elderly, and in time, elderly who lose their mobility. The disabled and mobility impaired population has grown rapidly, but the transportation options available to them have grown little. Tim Harney, Phil Griffith, and Rob Martin formed Handicab, LLC in an attempt to meet this clear and growing need.

The three owners of Handicab, Tim, Phil and Rob all have strong commitments to service the disabled. Rob and Phil have personal family experiences which make them dedicated to see a better transportation system for the disabled in Clark County. Tim, a former teacher and school administrator, witnessed the growth in the number of physically handicapped students in Clark County and the mobility issues accompanying that.

Handicab’s mission, as a for-profit taxicab company, is to help fill the gap in transportation opportunities for the disabled community.

• Handicab is committed to serve the disabled community.
• Handicab will place a priority on rides for the disabled through specialized dispatch procedures.
• One hundred percent of the cabs in the Handicab fleet will be designed to service disabled passengers.
• Handicab employees, including all drivers and dispatchers, will receive special training in understanding the needs of the disabled.
• Handicab, to be profitable, will provide transportation to all passengers both disabled and able bodied. Our innovative dispatch system will be able to quickly route our fully equipped cabs to calls for service to the disabled.

If approved for licensure, Handicab plans to begin operations within 90 to 120 days. We look forward to providing service to all citizens and visitors in Clark County, particularly those individuals with special needs.