WITH FRUSTRATION
When asked, STM spokeswoman Isabelle Tremblay said she did not know how often people in wheelchairs are stuck because of a malfunctioning elevator.
Dion lives on Sherbrooke St. in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a few blocks east of the Honoré-Beaugrand station. Although it takes two minutes to drive there, the nearest accessible station to his apartment is JeanTalon — a 25-minute drive.
Dion got in an adapted transit minibus, painted with the STM’s bright blue and yellow logo, to get to the Jean-Talon station. He then took the métro to Henri-Bourassa. As he pressed the button in the elevator to go from the platform to the turnstiles at Henri-Bourassa, he remarked that an alert button to ask for help was not working properly. The same button was also out of order on the elevator he took from the ticket counter.
“If there is a problem, we can’t signal for help,” said Dion. “These buttons are out of order all throughout the network.”
Up at street level, Dion noticed the bus loop in front of the station, and remarked that it was difficult to get from one side of the loop to the other because of the snow bank on the border of the road. He would have to take a step to cross the street and get to the bus stops on the other side of the road.
“This is not accessible,” he said with disappointment. He added that he doesn’t usually take the bus if there is any snow on the roads, because it is too risky.
“Even if you can get on the bus, you never know if you can get off, because you don’t know if there will be too much snow at your destination,” he said.
Gauthier said taking a bus comes with its own set of problems. Wheelchairs are often barred from entering if a bus is full or if there is already one wheelchair aboard, because the STM has a limit of one per bus. The bus ramps are also out of order fairly often.
Back at Jean-Talon, Dion waited for his ride home in the Tour Jean-Talon office building next to the station and tried to go to the bathroom. Even though the stall had a bar in it, the door to get into the bathroom had no button to make it open, so he couldn’t enter without help.
Later, when his ride arrived, the driver took out a shovel and dug out the snow on the side of the road so the ramp could lie flat at sidewalk level. “He’s very nice to do that,” Dion said. “The drivers are allowed to refuse to do this, because it’s not their job to clear the streets — it is the city’s.” said her favourite way to get around the city is by rolling in her wheelchair on the myriad bike paths that surround her apartment.
“I once did about 25 kilometres, after the transit van dropped us off at the Lachine Canal,” she said. “I brought along Zoé (her miniature Yorkshire terrier) and she loved it. I had to tie her down — otherwise she would have jumped off and gone after all the squirrels.”
Cartier has taken the bus on several occasions, and said she finds it frustrating she can’t rely on the ramps to be in working order.
“They break down very often,” she said.
Gauthier said that while RAPLIQ has been told ramps are officially supposed to be inspected once a week, an STM mechanic has told her that in reality it’s done every four months, or even less.
“One thing we have trouble understanding is that when a bus comes out and the brakes aren’t working, they don’t let it drive,” Cartier said. “Why don’t they do the same for the ramps?”
On the day she met a Gazette reporter, Cartier took adapted transit to the downtown core, then returned home by bus.
She said she rarely takes the bus or métro, and chooses to rely on adapted transit in the winter, and her own car in the spring, summer and fall.
She said adapted transit has its frustrations, too.
Trips must be booked a day in advance and can arrive within a halfhour window, making it difficult to be on time for appointments. Further complicating matters is that transit vans and minibuses can accommodate two people at a time, so a driver can choose to pick up or drop someone off during the trip, making it even longer.
“You lose a lot of freedom with adapted transit,” she said. “You could be out with friends and be having a good time, but you’ll have to leave early because your transport has arrived.”
The STM can also refuse to make appointments in bad weather, which is what happened to Cartier on the afternoon she was supposed to meet a reporter. About 10 centimetres of snow were forecast to fall, and she had to cancel the first appointment.
“They refused to take anyone for any reason except medical appointments and emergencies,” Cartier said.
She added that even with meticulous planning, you can still get stuck without a way home.
“Last summer we booked a transport to and from a show in Laval, but when we got there, we realized we gave them the address to the wrong venue,” Cartier said. “We called and asked for a pickup at the correct address and were refused. They told us, ‘It’s not our problem; you have to find your own way back.’ We ended up calling a private taxi and waiting outside until 11 p.m. It’s a good thing it was summer, because if it were the winter, we would have frozen to death.”
Paying for a private taxi is also more expensive, as regular taxi rates apply, as opposed to the $2.70 per trip cost to take an adapted transit taxi subcontracted to the STM.
Cartier said that in her nearly 60 years living in the city, there have been some improvements. Passengers used to have to book their trips a week ahead of time, and no regular buses or métro stations were accessible until this century.
“It has dramatically improved, but there is so much more to be done, and it seems to be moving so slowly.” she said. “People are getting really discouraged.
“We used to have the mentality that we have to adapt for the world, not the other way around,” she added. “Now we’re (demanding) to be included. It’s our right.”