I love living in a city, and I love visiting cities. For me, getting around is generally convenient on public transportation – we’ve come a long way from walking two miles to the once-an-hour streetcar stops of yesteryear. Sure, we all like to complain when public transit doesn’t go the way we think it should, and we have a right to complain when drivers are consistently late, give us truly terrible directions to where we need to go (“over there” is not helpful), or leave us sitting on a bus stop bench in the summer heat. But over all, I have been fairly lucky in my public transit experiences in Edmonton, in New York City, and in other cities I have traveled.
Most large cities have a Paratransit service that provides assistance to those who are unable to use public transportation for some or all trips due to a physical or cognitive disability; Edmonton is no exception. Where I grew up in BC, I took our Paratransit regularly from school because I lived too far to walk and there was no bus service available; I have chosen not to sign up for the DATS service in Edmonton, because I believe public transportation meets my needs nicely.
A comment I posted on Twitter today, and have voiced in the past, has gone something like this: Why would a blind person regularly take Paratransit when their city has a good, steady, reliable public transportation system? I have received many answers, ranging from “the bus would drop me off on the far side of a busy highway” to “I would have to take six buses and a train to get where I need to go” to “Not everyone is as mobile or independent as you.” All of these made me feel like I was a terrible person for asking such questions, and up until very recently I couldn’t figure out what got me so frustrated about the whole thing. Now that I know… I honestly don’t feel any better; in fact, I feel angrier.
Using Edmonton’s DATS system as an example, you can prebook no earlier than 3 days before your trip and must have it booked by noon the day before your trip, unless you “subscribe” to a trip you need to take regularly. If you need to cancel, you have to give at least 2 hours notice. This doesn’t give much notice for on-the-fly concerns, but is quite likely used to keep people from forgetting about their trips if it is booked a month in advance.
But what bothers me most is the seemingly consistent unreliability of DATS that I have seen in the 10 years I have lived here. I have seen people get dropped off 15 minutes late for an event, and then have their ride home arrive 20 minutes after that, so they couldn’t participate in the 90-minute activity they planned. One friend told me that he could book a DATS vehicle to pick him up at 5:00, and it could arrive anytime between 4:00-7:00. I once met someone who was waiting for a scheduled DATS vehicle when I walked into the gym for a workout and was still waiting when I walked out over an hour later. And I have seen this and heard about it over and over and over again from those who use the system regularly, usually accompanied by a resigned sigh.
Do we not deserve better?
And not only us, but those who may be unable to speak for themselves. Do they not deserve better?
It is not that blind people taking Paratransit are bad blind people, abusing the system and not using skills they should already know; I don’t think this in the majority of cases. But it is that the Paratransit systems here and in other cities seem to be rigid in their regulations and lax on their reliability, and from what I have been told it is almost always the office staff who are the most abrupt and impatient when a frustrated passenger calls to inquire about the status of their ride.
This does not appear to be unique to Edmonton, though other cities may have different problems. I would honestly like to speak to someone who has had consistently good experiences with a service like DATS in their city, because it would be great to hear some good news about it. I don’t know that there are easy answers, except to say that the idea of Paratransit is a good one, though the execution needs some work. I know my question has been all wrong…
When are we ALL going to stand up and request changes to a system that is obviously not working? Our time is valuable too.
Life Unscripted 
I don’t take paratransit here either, but I do agree…things need to improve. People should not have to book their rides days in advance only to be late for the appointment or whatever that they scheduled the ride to.
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Brooke, thanks for posting. I do completely agree; if this were a taxi company or a traditional public bus service, customers wouldn’t be expected to just shut up and take it, and changes would be made. But it’s a “special” service for people with physical or cognitive disabilities; their time isn’t as valuable as taxpaying citizens (ironically, several of whom do rely on the service…)
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I live in Nanaimo, Canada, and we do have a paratransit system called HandyDart. I think Dart stands for Dial-A-Ride Transportation in case any of you are curious where they came up with this. Anyway, it’s actually more reliable than most, but I’ve even had my experiences with it. As I’ve learned the transit system over here, I’ve come to use it less and less, usually only to get to work, and even then, only because my work actually pays for the tickets, which by the way, are $3.50 per trip.
The way it works here is this: You book a trip no later than noon on the business day before. This doesn’t sound so bad, and usually isn’t, until you want to book a trip for Tuesday, and it’s 12:01 on Friday, and you realize that Monday isn’t a business day because it’s Family Day in BC. The suggested window around here is 15 minutes in either direction. So if your ride is at 3:00, it could be any time from 2:45 to 3:15. Having said that, they are actually surprisingly good at being on time. Cancellations can happen at any time, including when I get a ride home from somewhere and have to cancel five minutes before the scheduled pick-up time. I can bring someone along with me, although I’m still not clear on whether I’m supposed to pay an extra ticket for that person. Hint: I’ve gotten away with not doing so, but don’t try this at home. I think there was one time where I had an extremely late arrival and showed up two minutes before my return did, but I seem to recall them fixing this in short order. There have been times when they couldn’t pick me up, and in almost all cases, they have sent a taxi instead, paid for by them. So I guess my point here is that these systems are almost always flawed, but less so in certain areas.
My friend in Victoria has to book at least a week in advance, and has had advance booked trips moved around without notice. I should add that these trips get her to her college, and there is basically no good transportation where she lives. If they randomly decide they’re going to pick her up at 9 instead of 8, and her class starts at 9, she’s pretty much screwed. Oddly enough, the system in Victoria is said to have much more funding than nanaimo, but either because of shotty management or the larger coverage area, it doesn’t seem to be nearly as flexible. Either way, I am lucky that I live close to a major bus terminal, and have access to a fairly reliable transportation service. I also think it is bad for people to rely on these services when they are perfectly capable of taking buses, partially because as stated above, such services are not always reliable, but also because I feel that we, as capable blind people, might be taking away from time that could be spent transporting people who really have no other way.
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Simon,
AMEN!!! I couldn’t have said it better myself! Thank your lucky stars that you DO have a pretty reliable system in HandyDart in Nanaimo on those occasions where you have to use them. I do agree that there are times and places that it is best to use such a service (i.e. if you are unable to safely and independently obtain the skills to become more independent, or live/work/go to an area with terrible or nonexistent public transit systems). but there are those who have unique medical needs and who cannot (either permanently or situationally) travel via public transportation, and that is who I think gets really shortchanged with badly-managed systems like Edmonton or Victoria as described above.
Hey, I have two feet and a heartbeat, so I make use of ’em, along with those 40-foot buses, like everyone else. IMHO if we expect to be treated like everyone else, the occasions to use such services as DATS/HandyDart should be the exception, not the rule.
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I live just outside the border and therefore don’t qualify for paratransit here in Baltimore. I have heard many complaints from others about the system, but it does seem like those in charge are trying to improve things.
I’m fit and confident enough with my white cane skills to manage the mile walk to the only city bus stop near my house. Two buses later, I can be at work when my husband can’t drive me. I do catch the city bus from my office to my husband’s office in the afternoons.
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Great stuff! Do you know what kinds of changes they are implementing?
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In Baltimore, para transit officials have recently tried to reach out for feedback, for example one rep attended a blind organization meeting last yr and listened for over an hour about issues and suggestions. With a complex system, change will take time.
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