The B.C. government has announced that additional funding has been allocated to launch its Passenger Transportation Accessibility Program: https://globalnews.ca/news/9452049/b-c-funding-program-accessible-taxis/

DABC is pleased to see that additional funding will support increasing the amount of accessible taxis available, and we certainly hope that the owners/operators of these taxis will receive comprehensive and meaningful accessibility training.

However, we also recognize that this new initiative may not address another important issue facing people with disabilities using taxis: there are still too many incidents of taxi drivers choosing not to pick up riders who use wheelchairs/mobility aids, or refusing to accept taxi-savers for individuals that can’t be picked up by HandyDART.

Disability Alliance BC is partnering with TransLink to set up an online focus group discussion to receive feedback on TransLink’s social equity evaluation framework. We are looking for people with disabilities, seniors, youth at risk, newcomers to Canada, people for whom English is not their first language, or people living on a low income, to join a 90 minute, online focus group discussion Wednesday February 16th from 10:30 am – 12:00pm.

The purpose of this focus group discussion is to help make regional transportation more accessible to all, by looking at ways in which some people may experience barriers to accessing TransLink and its services. This focus group discussion will attempt to answer questions like:

• What kind of communities will benefit from specific transportation investments?
• In what ways will these communities benefit?
• How much will they benefit relative to other communities, or relative to other investments?

Interested participants do not need to be active TransLink users in order to join the focus group discussion. TransLink is also interested in hearing from non-transit users to identify what barriers may exist to using TransLink’s services.

The focus group discussion will include a presentation by a TransLink facilitator, who will go over the main thematic areas within the social equity evaluation framework. This presentation will be sent to participants a few days ahead of the focus group discussion.

After attending the focus group discussion, each participant will receive a $75 honorarium and a 1-month 3-zone transit pass.

TransLink and Disability Alliance BC respect the privacy of interested participants and wish to assure that any feedback received during the focus group discussion will not be connected or recorded in any way so as to identify any specific person. Additionally, TransLink will only be requiring participants’ email addresses in order to send the meeting link for the online focus group discussion. DABC will be handling the distribution of honoraria and monthly transit passes, and will be requesting some contact information depending on whether the participant wishes to have it mailed to them or to pick it up at our office in downtown Vancouver.

If you are interested in participating in this focus group discussion, please send an email to jloh@disabilityalliancebc.org as soon as possible. A maximum of seven participants will be selected to join this focus group discussion. We anticipate there may be a high volume of interested participants, and so only selected participants will be contacted for further details.

In your email, please identify any accommodation requests you may have for the focus group discussion.

If you are planning on buying a mobility scooter and use HandyDART please be advised that the scooter cannot be more than 48 inches long and 37 inches wide. The combined weight of scooter and user cannot be more than 550 lbs. According to TransLink, these rules on the weight and dimensions of mobility devices have been in place since at least 1999.

Visit the TransLink website for more information on HandyDART.