Thousands of seniors and people with disabilities could lose full door-to-door access to public transit in Toronto under a new plan that requires some Wheel-Trans users to re-register for the service, says a report by public transit advocacy group TTCriders.
Currently, the TTC provides temporary, conditional – a mix of conventional and specialized transit options based on specific criteria like rush hour or weather known as Family of Services trip (FOS) – or unconditional transit service through its Wheel-Trans program, all at the cost of a regular fare.
In April, the city’s transit agency started reviewing the program and asked roughly 11,000 of its regular users who signed up prior to 2017 to re-enroll.
Users were given two months to submit their application and granted 30 days to appeal, if they disagreed with the TTC’s decision.
TTCriders is raising concerns that this move could result in some users being denied their right to accessible public transit as those who are able to submit an appeal could need to schedule appointments with specialists, pay for a new doctor’s note, and organize additional attendant support.
In its “Wheel Trans Users Need Choice!” report, the group also cites internal training documents obtained through a freedom of information (FOI) request that advises appeal panelists to “begin your review of an appeal from the perspective that the applicant more than likely qualifies for conditional eligibility.”
“The answers provided will need to convince you that they require unconditional service or that they are not eligible at all,” the document read.
Advocates say they believe these changes could negatively impact some of the city’s most vulnerable people, especially those who are incorrectly “re-categorized.”
“(We) cannot and should not be forced onto crowded streetcars, subways, and buses. TTC vehicles are crowded most of the time because service was reduced, and there isn’t enough room for me to get on,” TTCriders’ Adam Cahoon who called the appeal process a “kangaroo court,” said in a news release accompanying the report.
“Our transit trips will get longer, more dangerous, and many people with disabilities will give up and stay isolated at home. We will lose our independence. Premier Ford must provide transit operations funding so that Wheel-Trans can expand service to accommodate new users.”
Lawyer Gabriel Reznick, of ARCH Disability Law Centre, said its key to consider each indivual’s disability when reassessing persons with disabilities, adding Wheel-Trans operators “must ensure that they are not creating additional barriers for persons in accessing necessary transportation,” he said.
Wheel-Trans users should have the agency to decide what option works best for them, said Jane Rowan, of Toronto Seniors Forum.
“Using conventional TTC subways, streetcars, and buses should be our choice, not something forced on us,” she said in a release.
The TTC, meanwhile, said based on a “preliminary review” of TTCriders’ report that the group seems to have a “fundamental misunderstanding of the Family of Services program within Wheel-Trans.”
Spokesperson Stuart Green said this specifically applies to the categories of eligibility and the level of Wheel-Trans service that each category provides customers as well as the overall function of the program.
“Family of Services, which is not mandatory, allows customers with conditional eligibility more flexibility for spontaneous trips when the conditions of their disability allow them to travel on the conventional TTC,” he said.
“Annual surveys conducted show that at times around 30 per cent of Wheel-Trans customers choose to travel completely on buses, streetcars and subways without having to schedule trips on Wheel-Trans days in advance. Conversely, when the conditions of their disability creates barriers to travelling on the conventional TTC, conditionally eligible customers will always be able to travel door-to-door on Wheel-Trans.”
Green further noted that “no one” who qualifies for Wheel-Trans will ever be denied door-to-door service when they require it.
“By offering FOS, the TTC is in line with provincial legislation and regulations, that require both alternative accessible methods of transportation 45.(1), and three categories of eligibility; unconditional, temporary and conditional 63.(1),” he added.
“Eliminating the Family of Services program, and essentially the category of conditional eligibility as has been suggested, would be in contravention of the Integrated Accessibility Standards under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and potentially deny preferred travel times and access to door-to-door service for customers with unconditional eligibility.”
TTCriders, in its report, also makes reference to the TTC’s 10-year Wheel-Trans Strategy, which recommends a 50 per cent diversion of full door-to-door Wheel-Trans users to the conditional model by 2025.
The group says the real motivation for this move is the transit agency’s need to cut its operating budget. They point to internal TTC documents obtained through a FOI request, which found that “Wheel-Trans cannot sustain this level of growth given its current resource limitations.”
Green said that while it isn’t the “key driver” behind FOS, costs can be saved by having some users take conventional public transit service when possible as the growing demand for accessible transit services in the city grows.
In a June 5 news release, Hamilton Centre MPP Sarah Jama, the official opposition critic for accessibility and disability justice, said many of the aforementioned challenges could be avoided if the province provides “proper resourcing” for transit operations, especially in light of Ontario’s commitment to identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities by 2025.
“The goal of the (AODA) was to remove barriers,” she said.
“But local transit agencies have not been funded to expand service and are having to ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’.”
In a statement, the office of MPP Raymond Cho, Ontario’s Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, said the province has “no role in this, or any other, operational decision made by the TTC.”
“The Ministry of Transportation has provided the city of Toronto with over 1.5 billion in funding to support their transit operations,” spokesperson Wallace Pidgeon wrote.
“We encourage the City of Toronto and the TTC to ensure that accessible transit services are available to those who need them.”
