Transit advocates concerned over new Wheel-Trans eligibility requirements

Transit advocates are warning thousands of seniors and people with disabilities could soon lose access to door-to-door Wheel-Trans service, if they don’t meet the right eligibility requirements.

The TTC has become more accessible in recent years, but the advocacy group TTCriders told CityNews it’s nowhere near where it needs to be.

“I’ll feel a little bit like losing independence,” said David Meyers, Senior Manager at the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto. “Losing independence, losing your right to access your city, to navigate your city like everybody else can navigate their city.

For 20 years, David Meyers has relied on the ease and convenience of door-to-door taxi services to get from point A to B at the cost of a subway ride through Wheel-Trans.

But as the TTC changes eligibility rules, he may be shifted to a new program, which would force him to take a mix of Wheel-Trans and conventional buses, subways and streetcars.

Under the new plan known as the “Family of Services,” Wheel-Trans users are being asked to re-register. In many instances, some could have to prove their need for accommodation

“Depending on where I’m going in the city, I may have double or triple the time, and risk involved in travelling by multiple platforms,” said Meyers.

The TTC said it is in line with provincial legislation and regulations that require alternative accessible methods of transportation but advocates call it a dehumanizing, cost-cutting measure.

“We need to make sure disabled people are treated as equal citizens in this province because they currently are not,” said MPP Sara Jama Wednesday alongside transit advocates.

“Proper investments in transit keep disabled people safe,” she added.

“We have not seen the expanded funding from the provincial government required to support the increase in Wheel-Trans use,” said City Councillor Jamaal Myers.

Many could be forced to move away from door-to-door services and to conventional TTC services.

“If these conventional services were already adequate, members of the disabled community would be using them,” said Myers.

“Just because something seems accessible on paper, doesn’t mean it is in reality. Someone coming to today’s event got off at the nearest station and the elevator was broken,” said Shelagh Pizey Allen, Executive Director of TTCriders.

In a statement, the TTC tells CityNews in part the plan, which isn’t mandatory, will allow customers with conditional eligibility more flexibility for spontaneous trips when the conditions of their disability allow them to travel on the TTC.

“No one who qualifies for Wheel-Trans will ever be denied door-to-door service when they require it,” read the TTC statement. “Eliminating the Family of Services program would potentially deny preferred travel times and access to door-to-door service for customers with unconditional eligibility.”