Retired TTC bus retrofitted to help city’s less fortunate
Hygiene on Wheels vehicle will provide mobile shower, laundry, washroom facilities to homeless
A retired TTC bus is getting a second lease on life.
The donated commuter vehicle will be transformed into a Hygiene on Wheels bus, outfitted with showers and laundry facilities to serve Toronto’s homeless by late spring or early summer of 2018.
“The ultimate goal is to have this bus stripped and retrofitted with all the necessary equipment, in terms of the shower stalls and the laundry services and a place to put toiletries within the bus,” organizer Deborah Daniel said.
The bus will be outfitted with facilities that are gender-neutral and wheelchair accessible.
Daniel said that each day, the bus will park in different areas of Toronto. People will be able to take a shower and change into fresh clothes.
On Tuesday, Daniel went with the Star to see the donated No. 7423 TTC bus — her bus — for the first time. Ecstatic, she walked through the bus, making plans and visualizing what it would one day be.
“I am over the moon and also a little bit intimidated,” Daniel said. “Because now . . . the groundwork has been set. Now it’s actually time to bring it to fruition.”
Providing laundry and showers will help restore the user’s self-esteem and dignity, Daniel said.
“We take it for granted, that we get up and take a bath and go,” she said. “Most of the homeless people that I’ve seen, in my experience, they look like they haven’t bathed in a while. It’s not even an option.”
The bus is currently parked at a TTC lot. The logos and branding have been removed, as well as the PRESTO and announcement system.
“We receive a few requests for bus donations each year,” TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said in an email. “Our CEO, Andy Byford, reviews the requests and approves them on an individual basis.”
Daniel said hundreds of people have reached out, asking how to volunteer, how to donate or how to get involved. Designers, contractors and engineers have volunteered to begin renovations.
“The community has really rallied behind this,” she said. “I am excited and I’m hopeful, and I know that it’s going to be wonderful. And it’s going to happen.”
Fundraising efforts will kick off with the Woman Made Holiday Market at TrinitySt. Paul’s United Church on Dec. 23.
The idea of mobile showers units isn’t new.
The San Francisco-based nonprofit Lava Mae provides mobile shower facilities to the homeless in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
“I really just thought this would be a small idea; we’d take out one bus and that would be it,” said Doniece Sandoval, founder and CEO of Lava Mae.
Since the pilot launched in June 2014, over 10,000 people have taken more than 30,000 showers in the mobile units.
Lava Mae began by using buses, but later switched to trailers due to heightened competition for licensed bus drivers as tech shuttle buses took off in the Bay Area.
The trailers are less customized, but allow Lava Mae to serve more people.
Sandoval said the showers allow the people they serve to reconnect with their dignity and sense of self-worth.
“A shower is not going to end homelessness for you, but it will remove obstacles that keep you from moving forward.”