Fighting the Cuts to Handi-Van and Taxi Scrip

This is an e-mail I sent to all the Councillors and the Mayor Feb. 5, 2013

City Attacks Its Most Vulnerable People

I was looking for a subject line that would grab attention. I like this one.

As you requested during our discussion at the 2013 Budget Community Meeting, I’m listing some of the reasons I’m against cutting Handi-van services. I got my information on the cuts from the attached copies of “Current Budget Business Case Forms 64 and 65.

“Excellence in Government”? I guess this statement is a matter of opinion. According to the City’s “Strategic Directions”, I don’t see Case Forms 64 and 65 as “… city is … forward looking and responsible” nor do I see this as “High-quality service delivery”.

One purpose of these cuts is to increase the number of ambulatory passengers who will use public transit because Burlington can’t accommodate all of the disabled people that are registered. So … the City offers a service that is obviously badly needed and quite necessary, to the point of being overloaded, and the answer is to make cuts to the service? That doesn’t make sense to me.

The impression I get is that the City thinks that a lot of Handi-van users could take regular buses now that the new buses are more accessible.

If you off-load Handi-van customers to regular buses, how are the regular buses going handle the sudden increase of passengers? There is already a problem boarding all the carriages and walkers. When a person with a cane or walker gets on, they often cannot sit near the front on the side seats with their cane or walker in front of them because of all the carriages. (The TTC recently was in the news about carriages.)

What about the bus schedules? A large sudden increase of Handi-van users will certainly slow down the buses. (Our drivers never start moving the bus until a disabled person is fully seated and they always leave their seat to strap in a wheelchair.) As far as I can tell, there’s no new buses added to the current fleet of 52. The City is planning to buy one more small bus this year but as far as I can see, the new bus is to replace Dial-A-Ride services in the north-east.

I'm still in shock over these cuts.

How far does someone in their 80's have to walk with a cane or walker to get to their closest bus stop in all kinds of weather? I think the City say that a walk of 500 metres to a bus stop is reasonable? That’s a long way if you have problems walking. In order to be eligible for Handi-van service, the application for a Handi-van passenger asks if you are unable to walk 175 metres or 600 feet. If a person can’t walk this far, how are they going to use the conventional buses?

And how far do they have to walk when they get to the closest stop to their destination? Will that be taken in to account when someone is denied Handi-van service?

An elderly woman using a cane and carrying her purse cannot manage to also carry an umbrella too as she tries to get to her bus stop. I personally don’t even think of carrying an umbrella when I have to carry groceries home. How many trips would someone with a cane have to make in order to get in groceries?

How do the ambulatory passengers manage getting groceries home without help?

Case Form 65 says, “Requests for Handi-van service trips will continue to be prioritized based on medical appointments.” Does this mean that if you’re unable to use conventional transit, you’re only allowed to go out for medical appointments? What about the idea of independent living at home?

It can be dangerous for a disabled person to go out in the winter because of ice and snow. It’s sometimes difficult for me to climb over the snow banks the plows have left behind. And it can be dangerous for a disabled person in the summer as well due to temperatures reaching over 30 degrees. People can faint due to heat.

According to your Finance Department, if you don’t make cuts to the Handi-van service, the Operations Budget will increase by 3.4% but by making these cuts, the Operations Budget would be down by 6.6%, for a total savings of $116,000.

We have $124,000 in the 2013 budget to replace parking meters because they are near the end of their life cycle. The average life cycle of a clothes dryer is 14 years and mine is 23 years old. Using the City’s logic, I should have bought a new dryer 9 years ago and thrown out my working dryer. Actually almost all of my assets are beyond their life cycle. They aren’t as nice and fancy as something new would be but I personally can’t justify filling up the land fill with something that’s not broken. Of course I have to put some money aside for possible repairs and eventual replacement but I don’t buy new unless it’s necessary. (I only used the example of parking meters because it’s roughly the same money and it was easy to find in the 2013 Budget.)

There has been a large increase in Handi-van use year over year and the City's response is to cut their service? It's unbelievable that the City could seriously consider these kinds of cuts to the most vulnerable in our city! (Back in the last century there used to be a saying, “Have you no shame?”)

According to your Burlington Transit Master Plan of Feb. 6, 2012, there is going to be an increase of older adults with mobility issues as quoted below:

Senior Population

There are over 25,000 seniors living in Burlington representing about 15% of the total population

Seniors need mobility for their independence

That proportion is higher than the regional average (12%) and the provincial average (14%)

The city also has a greater share of the Region’s senior population than the total population (46% versus 33%)

In 2009, Canadians aged 65 and older made up14% of the population

This figure is projected to increase to between 23% and 25% by 2036

This could include greater numbers of older adults who have mobility or income limitations

As the population ages, the instance of disabilities increase

Over 47% of people over age 65 have disabilities



Feb.6, 2112 BURLINGTON TRANSIT MASTER PLAN 2012 – 2021 The Route Ahead
(Link was at http://cms.burlington.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=14920  and has since been replaced.  We don't have a Transit Master Plan anymore, transit is now mentioned in the Transportation Master Plan.)


Business Case Form 65. Eliminate Auxiliary Taxi for Handi-Van Service

In Business Case Form 65 under “Other” it says the “2012 total auxiliary passengers = 7,515 passengers” (which equals 145 rides per week.) To me, that sounds like a lot.

In order to qualify for Handi-Van services, you have to be unable to walk 175 metres. When you have difficulty walking, it can be quite a struggle to get anywhere and it takes a lot longer.

In my opinion, moving ambulatory passengers to conventional buses won’t work for a lot of reasons.

Picture this: Someone with a cane struggles to get to their bus stop but on the way, they had to stop to let a group of people go by, (you don’t take a chance on being jostled as they pass and then falling) or it could be that today it’s harder then usual to get around. For whatever reason, you miss your bus and it could easily be another ½ hour ‘til the next one. You can’t go back home yet because you’ve walked as far as you can for now. Is there a bench to rest on? Is there a shelter if it’s raining, snowing or the sun is beating down in plus 30 degree weather? The next bus comes and you can’t sit at the front because of the carriages, so you slowly make your way to the middle of the bus. When your stop is next, you get up before the bus stops because you feel pressured and you don’t want to hold everybody up. Now you have to transfer to another bus but can you make it across the intersection in time? Your driver radios the next bus and asks them to wait for you and you transfer to the next bus. You get to where you’re going and the walk at your destination is a lot further then 175 metres. Even worse, you have to make it through the entire parking lot. Vehicles, especially large ones, don’t always see people walking behind them as they try to pull out. This is another danger zone.

People use a cane or a walker because they’re unsteady on their feet. They can trip easily and they can fall hard. In the elderly, a broken hip could be catastrophic.

Another problem with ambulatory passengers on conventional buses is the bus schedule. On February 13th, I was on the 2 South at the Burlington Go Station when I heard one driver radio another asking him to wait for a few transfers. He radioed that he was late because he’d had a wheelchair passenger and no place to put him. Was the wheelchair left behind? It takes time to lower the ramp and then the driver has to strap in the wheelchair before getting back to his seat to drive. The driver also won’t move the bus until someone with a cane or walker is seated. If you want to transfer and your bus is 10 minutes late, everybody misses their next bus. If you’re trying to get to work or you have an appointment, it can be quite irritating.

A conventional bus has space for 2 wheelchairs or 2 full size carriages by pushing up the 5 or 6 side seats that were originally meant for the elderly, the blind and for canes. If a driver has 3, who has to get off the bus? A few times while I was on the bus, there was a carriage with 2 little dogs inside. Another time, a woman had a stroller packed full of groceries and no child.

Without the Handi-Van service, a lot of people just wouldn’t take a chance going out in the winter or any bad weather. Handi-Van is their only option. I understand the Handi-Van would prioritize bookings based on medical appointments, but what about places like the Seniors Centre? Humans are social beings and need a social life to live a healthy productive life with dignity. Without a social life, a human being becomes isolated and depressed.

The Handi-Van service encourages self sufficient independent living at home.

There has been a 9% increase in the use of Handi-Van services since 2010 and I believe the demand for service is only going to continue to increase every year.

As I see it, the answer would be to buy more Handi-Vans, not decrease the service.