Handi-Van service poorly run: User
Elaine Hewitt is fed up with the city’s Handi-Van service. “It’s so poorly run,” she said. Hewitt, 59, uses a motorized wheelchair. She and Gracie, her service dog, use the city’s specialized transit vans to get to church and to appointments.
For $2.50, the vans pick up people with disabilities at home and take them wherever they need to go.
Hewitt’s been using Handi-Vans since the mid-1970s. The service was good for years, she said – but not anymore.
She used to be able to call on short notice and get a ride. Now she calls two weeks in advance, and there’s no guarantee she’ll be able to reserve a van.
What if you need to cancel a ride? Hewitt says that’s a nightmare.
“You can sit on the phone for 90 minutes before you get through,” she said.
She could take regular transit, but that’s tough: parents with strollers often take the spots on the bus meant for wheelchairs, she said.
Meanwhile she’s been spending $200 a month on cab rides, she said, whenever she can’t get a Handi-Van. “It’s not ideal,” she said. City transportation manager Kevin Jones said he knows people are finding it increasingly difficult to reserve a ride.
The city has 10 Handi-Vans, he said, and they’ve ordered a new one to add to the fleet. They’ve also hired new drivers lately.
Still, it’s tough to keep up with demand.
The most recent Statistics Canada census data show that nearly one in five people in Peterborough is aged 65 or older, the highest municipal ratio in the country.
Jones said 40,000 Handi-Van rides were taken last year and that’s only going to increase.
“We’re signing new people up every week – it’s a growing need,” Jones said.
Coun. Don Vassiliadis, the city’s transportation chairman, said a new transit service is coming in the fall to help alleviate the wait for Handi-Vans.
The new community bus is going to go to retirement homes and drive people to places such as the mall or medical centres.
Vassiliadis is hoping that will offer an alternative for people who might otherwise only use the Handi-Van.
“Hopefully that will ease up the pressure,” he said.
It may well, said another HandiVan user.
Marie Bongard said the community bus might indeed be good for a lot of riders – and reduce the pressure on Handi-Vans.
Bongard, who has been blind for nearly 30 years, said she’s having the same issues with Handi-Van as Hewitt.
“You have to book two weeks in advance – and you’d better be ready at 9 a.m. to call,” she said. “Otherwise you might not get a ride.”
Bongard said she’s tried conventional buses: passengers clamber to get on, she said, and people with disabilities don’t necessarily get the preferred seating or the spots meant for wheelchairs.
“Quite often, it’s the parents with the strollers who get there first,” she said.
She’s holding out the hope that the community bus will make things better.
“But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, on that.”