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The battle to increase the number of wheelchair-accessible taxis on our streets now moves to Albany as Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn have committed to ask the Legislature for permission to add 150 such vehicles to the yellow-cab fleet. The two should lobby the dickens out of the place.

At present, only 29 of the city's 12,779 medallion cabs are equipped for wheelchairs, putting the odds of hailing one at 440 to 1. Why even try? All 4,463 public buses and an increasing number of subway stations are wheelchair-accessible, but the ubiquitous cab is all but off-limits. And the Taxi and Limousine Commission doesn't give a damn.

The TLC, which has fought introducing more wheelchair-friendly cabs, maintained its callousness in planning the impending sale of 308 medallions. No more than 54 would be dedicated to vehicles that can accommodate wheelchairs.

The Council said half the medallions should be reserved for wheelchair-accessible taxis, but Bloomberg called for devoting the bulk of the new medallions to vehicles that burn alternative fuels. Not a terrible idea when America is trying to break its oil addiction.

As a compromise, Quinn won Bloomberg's agreement to seek the legislative okay to add 150 medallions. Assuming Albany goes along, 204 cabs would be able to accommodate wheelchairs, a drop in the yellow ocean and a long way from what Quinn says is the "ultimate goal of making every taxi in New York wheelchair-accessible."

The way to get that done would be to require medallion owners to replace standard cabs with wheelchair vehicles as standard cabs are retired. Councilman Oliver Koppell plans a bill to complete such a phase-in over six years. We look forward to seeing the measure.