New York City’s taxi fleet will become the most wheelchair friendly in the country thanks to a lawsuit settlement approved by a federal judge Tuesday, which mandates that half of all cabs become accessible by 2020.

“This is one of the most significant acts of inclusion in this city since Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers,” says Manhattan federal judge George Daniels. “It is an act of a city that equally values all of its residents and visitors. I commend the plaintiffs and their lawyers for their persistence, and the mayor and the city’s representatives for the good judgment that today’s agreement represents.”

Under the terms of this settlement, the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission will institute a 30-cent surcharge for all fares beginning in 2015. The fee will fund a fleet of 7,500 wheelchair accessible cabs.

This historic settlement resolves a class action lawsuit filed in 2011 by Disability Rights Advocates. Plaintiffs in the case challenged the inaccessibility of the city’s taxi fleet of which only 2 percent was wheelchair accessible when the suit was brought. The case was filed on behalf of the Taxis for All Campaign, United Spinal Association, 504 Democratic Club and Disabled in Action.

Accessible taxi advocates like United Spinal Association board member Ronnie Raymond consider the agreement to be a tremendous victory. “Reliable, accessible transportation will change my life,“ says Raymond, who has MS. “With a wheelchair accessible fleet I would no longer be relegated to staying home or spending hours trying to get somewhere that takes everyone else 20 minutes. Wheelchair accessible taxis will help thousands of people like me.”