TTC must make accessibility a priority

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about what you would and wouldn't have seen on the TTC 10 to 15 years ago.  Here's something you probably wouldn't have seen: passengers using wheelchairs - myself included.

My first memories of riding the subway with my mom when I still used a stroller include a lot of stairs. So when I started going out by myself, I relied on Wheel-Trans, which is infamous for being unreliable and running behind schedule. One of my first rides on accessible transit was to Scarborough Town Centre with a friend. I fell so in love with the freedom that the rest is history!

As it is now, I find it fairly easy to get around the city. Sometimes the elevators are at stations close enough to each other that if one isn't working, I can use the elevator at the next station without too much inconvenience. 

But it is very frustrating that the elevators seem to be out of service so often.  Once, I had an important appointment and got off at Broadview station. I called the Lift Line  - an automated telephone line that tells passengers which elevators are out of order - and it didn't say anything about Broadview. But, of course,  one of the elevators was out of service when I got to the station. I felt stuck and may not have made it to my appointment had it not been for the kind strangers who lifted my wheelchair up the stairs.  (My wheelchair is electric and weighs a couple of hundred pounds!)

All current subway stations were supposed to have been retrofitted with elevators and other accessibility features by 2020, but due to budget constraints, that deadline has been pushed back to 2024.

As well, I find that buses are pretty easy to use because many of them have low floors that fold out. The TTC says all bus routes will be designated accessible in 2011. Streetcars, however, are a different matter. The new fleet of accessible vehicles will be phased in starting in 2012, but unfortunately isn't expected to be completed until 2018!

It's not only people with disabilities who benefit from accessibility. People with strollers, people carrying heavy loads and people who are just tired would all benefit from a more accessible TTC.

While it is on the right track,  it is time for the TTC to do even better by making more funding available so that the city can fully accessible and inclusive as soon as possible.

About Sarah Evans

Comments

[cost]

At what cost? The AODA is requiring this, but I think to provide a better perspective on this, provide costs not just years of completion - and alternatives. Wheeltrans, while unreliable, is an exclusive service. An elevator, while more reliable (?), is a full service. Should both be offered? Should one be cut to provide funds for the other? How much funds are being diverted to infrastructure like elevators versus number of wheel-chair users? Is there something better out there? OR is this the best solution?

[Becky]

Great post Sarah, I found your message eye-opening, and after hearing about the TTC from your perspective hope the do more, sooner, to make travelling more accessible for wheel-chair users.

[Dave]

Agreed that a lot of people, myself included, would benefit from increased accessibility to the TTC system. Even though many Wheel-Trans registrants like Sarah are able to use the conventional system for a lot of their trips, there will always be those who can't at all, so there will always be a need for some kind of Wheel-Trans; as a taxpayer who helps to subsidize it, the more Wheel-Trans registrants we can get on the conventional system, the less the cost of that service will be, so that's another positive that will come from more elevators and accessible vehicles.

[Darren]

Sorry, but this is too expensive and it create a myriad of walkways, two things which most transit users do not need.

The better option would be to improve and expand WheelTrans for those who need it. I understand that this may seem like segregation, but its simply too expensive to streamline accesability into the transit that everyone uses