Toronto Transit Authority Believes PWD Shouldn't Ride Buses, Part 1 of an ongoing series

[trouble]

Over 50% of the buses that Don & I have tried to take in Toronto have refused him service because he is disabled.

Of the five bus drivers who have refused us service, only one has followed the protocol that was outlined to us by TTC Customer Service yesterday. Today, a bus driver threatened to trap Don on the bus and force him to wait for the firetruck to come rescue him if I did not stop insisting that he follow TTC protocol in situations regarding broken ramps on buses. That same bus driver was reprimanded by the bus driver that finally accepted us on his bus because apparently the TTC is deliberately putting buses with broken ramps on wheelchair-accessible routes with wheelchair-accessible stickers on the buses and just telling wheelchair users to wait for the next bus. This will obviously allow them to say they have 100% of wheelchair accessible buses on routes when those buses are not wheelchair accessible.

Two bus drivers have not strapped Don's wheelchair into the bus, as they are required to do, and one driver did this improperly. This puts Don's life at risk. Without training, I cannot strap Don into the bus for them. I am not Don's caregiver, and should not be expected to do this work without pay, and while having to pay to be on the bus. When this sort of work is required of me on airlines or trains, I get a free fare.

The TTC has been taken to court at least twice for failing to obey accessibility requirements. I had been under the mistaken impression that being required to pay a huge fine and still have to follow accessibility guidelines would cause TTC to consider that accessibility is something they are required to do. Apparently this is not the case.

Because we were kept waiting for three buses at the last stop we were at, we are unable to call TTC customer service to complain about this situation. Again, we have been in Toronto for two weeks, and have been taking buses together on two days. I do not have the time and energy to call TTC to complain about this every single day that Don and I want to go out. I do not want to have to call TTC customer service every day. But now I am considering getting a cell phone that much sooner just so we can call TTC customer service when these things happen rather than having to wait till tomorrow morning.

I wish I could say I cannot believe this is happening in the bustling metropolis of Toronto, but frankly, I am not. After years of fighting for basic accessibility requirements in Halifax, and foolishly thinking that things would be easier in a busier city with more resources, and a strong disability rights community, I am really really tired of this shit.

Comments

[silverhare]

Oh, FFS. *massive hugs* That is so fucking shitty.

[bell]

Llasjfaksdjfalsjfalskjf GRRRRRR

That is just the shittiest. I'm so sorry to hear they are deliberately not providing properly-functioning access.

[zingerella]

I would be happy to send this to the TTC chair, on your behalf. Her name is Karen Stinz, she's a city councillor, and, reportedly, she actually cares about making transit work: http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/stintz1.htm

I don't know where the bus was, but if it was near your place, you were in Ward 8, York West. The Councillor there is Anthony Perruzza (http://www.toronto.ca/councillors/perruzza1.htm), and I know very little about him. He opposed the Core Services Review, which means he's not a Ford yes-man, and in the previous administration he served on the TTC (the board, I think; he didn't drive a train or anything). He seems to be pretty pro-tenant, too, and attended York U. You might cc him on anything you send to Ms. Stinz.

Absolutely e-mail TTC customer service, but thi veers from operations into policy, so I'd cc the people who are supposed to be working for you directly.


(I mean, I know you can send this to Ms. Stinz, but you're busy, and I'm already messing about in Toronto politics, so if you just feel like you're SO DONE with complaining to people about this and want someone else to yell at Toronto for you, I'm happy to. I'm yelling at Toronto a lot these days.)

[silver_spotted]

arg. I'm sorry you're having to deal with this shit.

[synecdochic]

What the fuck seriously i am so sorry you are dealing with this bullshit

[kaz]

Oh my god I am so sorry that is RIDICULOUS. D:

[cereta]

That is appalling!

[annaham]

Absolutely horrible. I'm sorry that you both have to deal with this.

[thatabbygirl]

this is beyond enraging - both for you and don and for the other folks with disabilities who are surely affected by this. awful awful awful. i'm sorry you have yet another problem to have to take on - this can't be how you want to spend your time or energy.

<3

[amadi]

Just ARRRRRRGH on Don's and your behalf. I'm so sorry Anna.

[laughingrat]

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. How the fuck do these assholes sleep at night, I ask you.

[jesse_the_k]

No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No! No!

I'm so sorry this shit is happening.

[sami]

... wow. That's just so unbelievably fucked up.

About all I can suggest is oh-so-helpfully pointing out that if they are having too much trouble working out how to run basic fucking disabled access, they could perhaps liaise with Perth's public transport authority, in the most isolated capitol city in the world, where we have apparently achieved the remarkable feat of solving the most difficult problem in the world, and made it so people in wheelchairs can take the bus omg.

What is this with Don even needing to be strapped in? What the hell kind of hideously badly designed buses have they got there? And malfunctioning ramps? If the bus is BROKEN it SHOULDN'T BE IN SERVICE. I don't even know what would be done about that here because I've never heard of that happening. What other basic maintenance aren't they doing?

I just, I don't even, what the hell.

[ginny_t]

Wow, that's gross. When I lived on Eglinton, all (almost?) the buses had ramps and wheelchair stickers. I never saw a broken ramp or a driver refuse to take on a wheelchair. (I also never saw a driver strap in a wheelchair, and I saw a fair number of wheelchair users come and go.) I thought it was better than that. :(

[umadoshi]

I may cry. *so many hugs*

[lilacsigil]

Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them. Fuck them for assuming that Don has no need to be independent, and fuck them for assuming that you will pick up their slack.

[verity]

Oh sweet Jesus.

TORONTO, GET BACK INSIDE THE HOUSE AND SIT IN THE CORNER UNTIL YOU CAN BEHAVE YOURSELF

[rising]

I had buses in Denver repeatedly refuse me the lift, and I'm simply on crutches and cannot take stairs. I've had buses here in San Francisco refuse to use the lift, or the ramp.

I have buses in LA pass me up, because apparently my bright crutches when I'm alone by myself are a warning sign that I'm going to want something they don't have the time along their busy fucking route to do.

[jackandahat]

Fuck's sake, some people's children. I'm sorry Don and you are having to deal with this shite.

[jhameia]

That is such complete fucking bullshit =((( Many many hugs.

[qem_chibati]

I can not fucking believe that you are going through this shit. D:

[spiralsheep]

That's wrong in soooooo many ways. And now I've read the comments here too. :-O

Buses around here, and in London when I was there, kneel for anyone who appears to have mobility difficulties AND pushchairs (and people still volunteer to help others on or off the bus).

I read the comment exchange above but I'm still not sure I understand why bus passengers using wheelchairs would need to be specially strapped in* if the bus is properly designed (i.e. high traction floors and appropriate "back" rests for wheelchairs so they can be parked with brakes on facing away from the direction of travel). Even fully able pedestrians need high traction floors on buses when it's wet. The ramp situation isn't perfect, partly because of unsuitable kerbs (or no kerbs at all on some old/narrow streets), and wasn't even in London after Mayor Ken Livingtone's public transport reforms, but the expectation is towards accessibility and bus drivers are embarrassed when their buses fail. (Although the situation in Britain is presumably very varied from locality to locality.)

* There have been arguments over here in favour of ALL coach passengers (and possibly bus passengers to having compulsory seatbelts).

[kerrypolka]

Thank you so much for kicking up a fuss about this.

[bcholmes]

Grr. I'm sorry to hear that.

I guess I've noticed when the system works. We frequently have people in chairs on my local bus route.

I've also seen the evolution of the set-up over the many years I've lived in the city. When I first moved to Toronto, there were no subway stations with elevators, ferinstance, so I thought things were improving. So it's angry-making to hear that the TTC is still screwing up.

[susanreads]

Grrrrr. They're obviously relying on an assumption that disabled people don't riot. Sack the lot of 'em!

For a more practicable suggestion, zingerella's letter looks good.