New mom facing issues booking Wheel-Trans

By Faiza Amin

A Toronto woman who uses a wheelchair says having a baby means its nearly impossible for her and others to use the TTC’s accessible transit.

Terri-Lynn Langdon tells CityNews she’s been spending extra money on taxis, because she’s been unable to bring her 10 week old infant Jaycie aboard the Wheel-Trans vehicles. She uses a wheel-chair and when accessing the specialized transit service, she requires a friend to accompany her for doctor appointments and other vital errands. But when she tries to board the bus, the drivers usually raise questions.

“They’ve actually called it in and said she has two friends or she’s traveling with two people, and my daughter isn’t my friend,” Langdon tells CityNews. “The appointment is for her and it’s important that she comes.”

CityNews reached out to the TTC on Sunday, explaining to them about Langdon’s challenges. A spokesperson tells us there’s only one policy which applies during all days of the week.

“This policy is that customers can travel with one attendant and infinite dependents subject to vehicle availability,” said Hayley Waldman. “Customers who have a support person card can travel with two attendants along with their dependents. If the customer would like to travel with additional attendants/dependents they may call on the date of travel and request this, subject to vehicle availability.”

The TTC adds that transit users could only book one attendant or dependent online, and additional riders would have to be added by reservations. Which means Langdon must choose between her support person or her baby when traveling on a Wheel-Trans vehicle. The TTC says its automated booking system is an efficient way to make reservations, however Langdon tells CityNews when she attempted to make reservations over the phone, she was left waiting for over an hour and never got a call-back.

She adds that she’s written and called the TTC to advise them about her inability to access their Wheel-Trans service.

“Essentially the response that I got is, yes this is our status quo and it’s our policy, and nothing to further the conversation or to say that they’re willing to address it or change what’s currently happening,” she said. “I belong to the city as much as everyone else so I should be able to travel the way that other people do.”

On Sunday, the TTC unveiled it’s newly designed Wheel-Trans self-booking website, making upgrades and changing the way customers reserve their rides online. The upgrade is part of a 10-year transformation program aimed at improving the experiences of TTC customers.

A spokesperson says that with this new online system, transit users like Langdon will also be able to reserve multiple reservations for an attendant and dependents.

Langdon says while this is a good step forward she wants the TTC to allow riders to indicate if they’ll be traveling with infants online and would like Wheel-Trans drivers to be trained in the use of car-seats.

“As a new mom I learned about car seats before I left the hospital,” she said. “But as a Wheel-Trans user I can’t help the driver with that just because of where I would be sitting.”

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