IMPACT ON DISABILITIES,
Snafus hit people with mental health concerns hard, says Suzanne Westover.
Even last week, when the light rail trains were complemented by parallel bus service, there were signs of a bumpy ride ahead.
At the Barrhaven bus stop, at the farthest end of the concourse from Tunney’s Pasture station, I spoke with a woman who requires a wheelchair. She told me a harrowing tale of getting smacked in the head with elbows and bags as people rushed to make their connection. The crowded stop made it impossible for the bus driver to see her. The ramp that’s usually lowered never came down. She was left angry and frustrated, one more disappointed passenger in the driver’s rear-view mirror.
Another afternoon, when I walked down to the Lyon station to take the train, a red-vested OC Transpo ambassador suggested that given the delays on the tracks, I should turn back around and take a bus. What will happen, I wondered, when there are no buses?
That question has been answered this week. The commute to work from Barrhaven has been chaotic and the same is true for Orléans, my colleagues tell me. On Tuesday, I was disgorged at Tunney’s, along with 2,000 of my fellow commuters. The platform was teeming, the stairs were packed, and the buses were backed up beyond the horizon.
For those passengers prone to claustrophobia or anxiety, panic attacks are now part of the morning routine. I have friends who effectively manage mental health concerns, but who have been forced to stay home from work because of unpredictable trains, the crushing crowds and the threat of being stuck miles underground with no way out.
It’s easy to understand how people who are squished like sardines, without freedom of movement, might become paralyzed by fear or overcome by panic. This is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and it’s important to consider how major disruptions like Ottawa’s failing transit experiment affect people who live with a mental health problem.
While I’ve heard a lot of people coping with dark humour, the situation wasn’t funny for a man with global development delays, with whom I rode this morning. He struggled to grasp where his rerouted bus was going. Why, he kept wondering, were we trying to turn left when we should be going straight? During our 30-minute ride from Tunney’s to Lyon, he often asked me, “Is this ridiculous?” My response, every time: “Yes, it sure is!”
Not everyone is equally equipped to handle the ramifications of a major change like this one, especially when the transition has been far from smooth. Consider people who live with autism (or any sensory processing difficulties), or who have mobility issues or are deaf or blind. The level of confusion has been overwhelming even for those of us without any of these special considerations.
When planning an overhaul of historic proportions to a system expected to serve not only commuters but also the city’s most vulnerable, we should have contingencies. Whether it’s training transit staff in mental health first aid, more clearly communicating how passengers will be rerouted, or making provisions for people with different abilities, we can’t simply say that passengers should be fined for holding open doors. As a city striving to be world-class, that’s just not good enough.
The onus isn’t on passengers to fix this. OC Transpo owes all of us an apology for lack of contingency planning and needs to put forward a solution to address how vulnerable riders will be given priority consideration. Giving all of us a break on fares in November wouldn’t hurt either.
Suzanne Westover is an Ottawa writer and public transit user. She works for the Mental Health Commission of Canada but the views expressed are her own.
For passengers prone to claustrophobia or anxiety, panic attacks are now part of the morning routine.