Blind passenger is ‘gobsmacked’ by Ontario bus driver’s rudeness
WINDSOR, Ont. — Every time Rebecca Blaevoet rides a bus, she approaches the front, with assistance from her guide dog, and asks the driver to alert her upon arrival at her stop.
A frequent transit user, the newcomer to Windsor, Ont., quickly became acquainted with the driver on her regular route.
But despite her reminders at the beginning of each ride, he would often drive past her stop without remembering to let her off.
The mistake was inconvenient but understandable, said Blaevoet, 47. What she could not understand was the driver’s attitude.
“One day he said, ‘Listen, you’re a blind lady. You should have somebody with you,’ ” said Blaevoet, who was “gobsmacked” by this response.
She filed a complaint to Transit Windsor, and was told the driver would be spoken to.
Blaevoet believes the unpleasant incident could have been avoided if that city’s buses were equipped with audible stop announcements.
“Windsor is really dragging its feet in terms of accessibility. It compares to a city 30 years ago,” she said.
“Most cities I’ve lived in since 2010 have had (audible stop announcements),” added Blaevoet, who has lived in 11 cities in her adult life.
Pat Delmore, the executive director of Transit Windsor, said the addition of audible stop announcements to the city’s buses is “on its way as we speak.”
The announcements will be both audible and visual, he said.
“We are in an open request-forproposal stage right now,” Delmore said, “and we are about to award the tender for this.”