[nagdu] Canada: Accessibility problems abound on local buses

[Ginger Kutsch]

Canada: Accessibility problems abound on local buses

Cambridge Times 

http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/4607145-accessibility-problems-abound
-on-local-buses/

 

There is a growing problem with Grand River Transit and handling of their
disabled customers. 

 

I  am visually impaired. I travel with a  dog guide, Corolla. Some others
with service dogs are having trouble accessing the bus with their service
dogs. 

 

There is an easy solution - ask for the photo ID that each disabled person
with a  service dog carries at all times. 

 

We also are being harassed by other passengers because we are disabled. They
want us off the buses. The girls with the strollers take our disabled places
and it is almost a  fist fight for them to move out of our spots, which are
clearly marked. 

 

It seems that no one really likes the talking stop announcements that are
there for the blind. There are many times I ride the bus and the talking
stop announcement is turned off and I have to ask for them to fix it. 

 

It is supposed to be on all the time. I travel to Toronto frequently and
their streetcar passengers are far more polite. I am always offered a seat. 

 

Then I come back to Cambridge and problems once more. Already I have been
told of two others with service dogs about their problems with accessing the
bus. 

 

It is not good for disabilities anywhere. People are not understanding of
any disability. 

 

Terrible for 2014. 

 

Helen Kitchen 

 

Cambridge