Wheels in motion
Rebate program could see accessible taxis available across the province
Paul Cudmore is hopeful no one has to experience what he did a year ago.
The Charlottetown man left the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 1 on Pownal Street on a January night after playing cards with his friends only to find the side-door of his van was jammed, leaving him unable to lower the wheelchair-accessible ramp.
Panic set in as Cudmore wondered how he would get home as there are no accessible taxis in the city.
After more than an hour of trying to determine a solution, a regular cab arrived, his friends lifted him into the cab and he returned home, where he has a spare wheelchair.
“I really wouldn't want to see anybody else get stuck in that situation again,” Cudmore said Tuesday. “If it could happen to me, it could happen to somebody else.”
The City of Charlottetown wants to help fix the problem, and on Tuesday it announced it had invested $5,000 this year towards the Accessible Transportation Rebate Program. The province announced $95,000 for the program, which will be administered by the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities, about a month ago.
The funding will be available to transportation operators, such as taxi owners or ride-sharing companies, to help offset the costs of wheelchair accessible vehicles.
The idea of accessible transportation has been discussed for about a decade, but it never seemed to gain momentum until Cudmore shared his story publicly.
“I think it really opened people’s eyes to the situation,” Cudmore said. “It could be a life-or-death situation, so we have to get this done.”
Marcia Carroll, executive director of the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities, said she doesn’t think the program would exist without Cudmore sharing his experience.
“It took a catastrophic event of a man in a wheelchair being stranded in the city on a cold winter night with no options of how to get home,” she said.
Charlottetown Mayor Philip Brown said a committee with various stakeholders was struck after the situation came to the city’s attention.
“Monumental changes require (a) multi-pronged approach that must involve the people that it affects,” he said.
With the program only a month old, no applications have been approved. It means if Cudmore finds himself in a similar situation as he did 15 months ago, he would be in the same predicament. But he is hopeful that will soon change.
“You have to hope there’s somebody out there that says this looks like this could be a good opportunity for them, which it would,” Cudmore said.
He saw first-hand evidence in Summerside where a taxi company has a few accessible vehicles. Cudmore saw them arrive about six times in 90 minutes last year while he was at the Prince County Hospital. He said they were used by people in wheelchairs and able-bodied passengers.
It is one of the common misconceptions that an accessible taxi would be onedimensional, but officials stressed Tuesday that they can be used by all customers.
“It would add opportunity to keep (companies) busy,” Cudmore said.
A van on display at Tuesday’s announcement looked like any normal van with a ramp attached to the rear. One row of seats at the back was removed to allow space for the wheelchair, but there was still a passenger seat and a middle row in the van.
Carroll said they have already had calls from people interested in the program.
Carroll said their research shows it would cost between $13,000 and 18,000 to upgrade an existing van.