Specialized transit frustrations continue
Poor, unreliable service continues in spite of Regional assurances
Niagara Specialized Transit passengers continue to face challenges accessing the services, despite the Region’s efforts to resolve problems that erupted in late August.
“The saga continues, and it doesn't really get better,” said Liz Hay, Tuesday — a week after regional councillors and staff began to take steps to restore services that had been cut in half a few weeks earlier.
A notice posted on the Niagara Specialized Transit outlines some of the changes that remain in place, after previously cut services were restored last week.
“Niagara Specialized Transit service has not been cancelled, but any advance bookings beyond two weeks have.
“Starting in September 2018, trips with Niagara Specialized Transit are now booked on a first come, first serve basis. With a set number of trips available per day, this procedure was put in place to maintain fairness for all Niagara Specialized Transit riders,” the notice says.
Although Hay said she’s grateful that rides she relies on to get to her job at Brock University were restored at the end of last week, she said the service isn’t as reliable as it needs to be.
For instance, she said she nearly missed her ride on Monday when her bus arrived at 7:15 a.m., after NST had previously given her confirmation that she would be picked up at 7:30.
“At 7:19, I went down to the lobby of my building. The NST van was there already. The scheduler had me on the list for a 7:15 pick-up,” she said. “Given that the van only has to wait five minutes before leaving, I was lucky not to miss my ride to work.”
Hay said she later called NST to complain and was told the confirmation phone calls riders receive “are made before the schedule is finalized.”
Scheduling issues have also made her late for work twice this week, and she remains concerned about other users.
“The irregularities and unreliability of the service continues to curtail the ability of citizens of Niagara with disabilities to participate fully in the life of the Region,” she said. “I'm hoping that this will be an election issue.”
Rhys Evans, too, remains frustrated by ongoing scheduling such as waiting for more than 30 minutes for the bus to arrive.
“Today was the only day that they picked me up on time,” Evans complained, Tuesday.
“I’m tempted to take this to human rights if I have to,” he added.
Although a motion approved by Niagara’s public health committee last week referred the issue to the next accessibility advisory committee for debate, the advisory group’s chair Dan Whipple said he was not notified and the issue is not listed on the meeting agenda.
Regardless, Whipple said he plans to discuss it when the advisory committee meets next Tuesday.
“Trust me, I’ll be bringing this up. No doubt in my mind,” Whipple said.
“I have a tremendous amount of empathy and understanding of how difficult it is for those who don’t have vehicles to get around.”
Whipple said most of the 800 registered NST riders “have no other option” but to rely on the service.