Disability groups decry Memphremagog adapted transport cuts

Activists are sounding the alarm over reduced transport options for those with disabilities. As of May 26, Memphremagog’s adapted transportation service will be unavailable on weekends and after 5:30 p.m. This comes as taxi drivers, whose services were once a lifeline for those with mobility challenges, have quit in droves following the 2019 abolition of the taxi permit system.

“We’re seeing a regression in adapted transportation in the region,” said France Croteau, coordinator of the Regroupement des usagers du transport adapté de Sherbrooke Métropolitain (RUTASM), which represents local adapted transportation users. The upcoming service cuts will limit the transportation rights of people with disabilities, she said. “Disabled people have the same right to go out as everybody else.”

Bill 17, which opened the door to rideshare apps and significantly weakened the taxi industry, also impacted the disabled community. “A lot of taxi drivers quit,” Croteau said.

In 2019, taxis provided 7 million out of 9 million adapted transportation trips, said Rosanne Couture, general director of the Alliance des regroupements des usagers du transport adapté du Québec (ARUTAQ), RUTASM’S provincial counterpart. The bill “significantly compromised the transportation of disabled people in Quebec,” she said, resulting in “a shortage of drivers and a shortage of vehicles.”

Couture is calling on the transport ministry to respond. “The government now has to correct the situation,” she said. “We are asking that it swiftly launch an adapted transportation recruitment process.”

Couture said the Memphremagog cuts were a violation of disabled peoples’ right to the same services as the broader community. “Disabled people have the same transportation rights as everyone else.” She said the recent announcement is setting the level of service back decades. Couture is calling for the transport ministry to intervene in that case as well.

Reduced transportation options leave many disabled people stuck at home, Croteau said. “People with disabilities have limits. They can’t walk for a long time.” Many people in wheelchairs can’t get into regular cars, she added.

Croteau said the service cuts will mean fewer opportunities for recreation and hobbies. “We should not be cutting their leisure time.”

She is also calling for the Société de transport de Sherbrooke to offer reciprocal adapted transportation with other municipal transport services, including Coaticook. As it stands right now, Coaticook offers rides to Sherbrooke, but Sherbrooke doesn’t offer rides to Coaticook.

Beyond service cuts and reduced taxi availability, Croteau said privately run services like Limocar create accessibility issues by dropping riders off at highway rest stops instead of in central locations.

“We will continue to fight,” for better adapted transportation, Couture said, adding that the province’s attitudes toward adapted transportation show “a lack of respect.”

“People with disabilities are equal human beings,” Croteau said.

Couture is calling on the

transport ministry to respond. “The government

now has to correct the situation,” she said. “We are asking that it swiftly launch an adapted

transportation recruitment process.”