At least twice last week, I needed to remind my friends that public transportation will be free for the entire month of December, and that includes Para Transpo. I completely understand why some may forget or think it wouldn’t apply to Para Transpo customers.
As I’ve noted before, the City of Ottawa has a long history of ignoring the concerns of Para Transpo riders, and let’s be honest, people with disabilities in general.
While I do love the idea of free transit for a month, I do see problems that may come up.
The first big shiny red problem that I see is the LRT. As most of you probably know, the LRT returned to partial service on November 12th. Less than a week later, it broke down again. Mind you, it just resulted in brief delays, but to me, that’s not enough to convince others that it’s safe and trustworthy.
And is there such a thing as a “minor brakes issue”? I don’t drive anything besides my power chair, but I can tell you first-hand that having brakes that work is very important.
So, my suggestion is first to make sure those brakes work every time. My second suggestion is to stop referring to brake issues as minor. If the City of Ottawa wants us to trust LRT again, please make sure that working brakes are included.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the song “Crazy Train,” but I don’t want it to be literal.
As for the second problem that may happen in December. This concerns Para Transpo riders. With free transit in December, I fully expect more people will be using Para Transpo more often, especially closer to the holiday season. The issue with that is there needs to be more Para Transpo vehicles on the road, which means the City of Ottawa needs to hire more drivers for Para Transpo.
I do have some good news on that front though. Late last week, I was informed that the City of Ottawa has just hired five drivers for Para Transpo. While that is in fact good news, I believe more need to be hired.
Late last week, I was also informed that Para Transpo will be (or have begun) removing limits on the number of trips that we can take in a single day. For the longest time, the limit was four. If you needed more, it was a crapshoot on whether or not you’d be able to get your extra rides.
While on one hand, this is fantastic news, the cynical part of my brain is saying that this has the potential to get messy, especially during the winter. I feel that this will result in even longer wait times, and possibly their computer system forgetting that you have other bookings, which happens quite often now.
We also need to keep in mind that more people are venturing out on the road now, so traffic delays are becoming a thing again. When traffic delays happen, it affects Para Transpo riders.
To me, it sounds like this plan wasn’t thought out well. While yes, as I said, it’s a great idea and long overdue, it’s also essential to have enough resources to ensure that it works properly.
Without those in place, it’s just another thing to add to the list of false promises made by the City of Ottawa.
I apologize for sounding like a Debbie Downer this week. I’ve been a Para Transpo rider for as long as I can remember. Also, over the past few (pre-pandemic) years, I’ve attended several Transit Committee meetings and voiced my concerns at almost every session.
The general sense that I get, at least from those at the top, is that they just don’t care. In their minds, people with disabilities should just be happy that we have a transportation service, and that we should keep our mouths shut.
Good thing that the city hasn’t told me to stop writing. *Phew*
Seriously though, and I know that I say this often, but please stop ignoring people with disabilities. Please listen to our needs, wants, and desires.
Yes, we are happy with our small victories as we roll along, but it needs to go much further than whispering sweet false promises in our ears. We also need to have a good, reliable system, complete with the support that can help make it work.
Without proper support in place, all we have are words.
