The purpose of this survey is "to meet the requirements of the Integrated Accessibility Standard Regulation (IASR) of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act."
A city can issue as many accessible taxi licenses as they like but, it doesn't mean anyone will apply for one. As Scott Wallace of Burlington Taxi said, "You can't make money on them based on metered rates." (Quote from CBC)
Burlington accessible taxi service 'a non-moneymaker'
Other cities do have licensed, metered accessible taxi service. Scott Wallace, the president of Burlington Taxi, told CBC Hamilton that his company has been offering it since 1988."But they're a non-moneymaker," Wallace said. "You can't make money on them based on metered rates."
Burlington taxi does have a handful of licensed wheelchair accessible cabs — and they cost the company about $30-$40,000 a year. The drivers of those cabs are paid an hourly rate rather than through commission like all the rest of his drivers, Wallace says. Otherwise, no one would take the job, he says.
"If I didn't offer that rate, I'd never get a driver to do it," Wallace said. "They'll try to refuse those trips because it's a longer trip for less pay."
The same thing could easily happen in Hamilton, he says. The 16 licenses the city plans to issue would let drivers accept fares from both disabled and non-disabled people. Fletcher says the city will have to develop some kind of monitoring system "so that people with special needs are served first."
But in the beginning, that system might be "reactive," Fletcher says, so the city would try to disincline drivers for not picking up people with disabilities after the fact.
"We have to ensure that we create some sort of a program so that these people get chosen first."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/wheelchair-accessible-taxis-coming-to-hamilton-in-june-1.1334943
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