City councils in Hamilton and Burlington have temporarily shelved staff plans to require everyone — including blind passengers and passengers using mobility devices such as wheelchairs — to pay the same fares as everyone else, when they travel by public transit.
The Hamilton Street Railway and Burlington Transit were responding to new regulations in the Accessiblity for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The act requires public transit systems which operate both conventional and specialized (or “accessible”) services to implement a “fare parity” policy by New Year’s Day, Tuesday, January 1, 2013. That means that the transit agencies must treat all passengers equally when they pay fares aboard transit vehicles.
To further achieve the goal of fare parity, the HSR and its Accessible Transportation Services division decided also to eliminate the current “voluntary pay policy” for persons using personal mobility devices, including four-point canes, walkers, scooters and wheelchairs and the free fare for passengers holding Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) cards when traveling on HSR buses, starting January 1. (The voluntary pay policy allows these people to pay what they can — or not pay at all — for transit service.) Instead, a new procedure would require all passengers to pay the same fare and use the same fare media on all transit vehicles, whether they use regular HSR buses or the DARTS (Disabled and Aged Regional Transportation Service) door-to-door accessible service.
According to the Hamilton Spectator, “City staff had suggested free service for some — but not all — disabled residents could be considered discriminatory under the new Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.”
The Spec reports that “the decision sparked outrage among blind residents and their advocates, who argued the city has misinterpreted the rules and runs the risk of isolating hundreds of low-income users of the free service”.
Meanwhile, Burlington Transit adopted a similar fare policy for its conventional buses and its Handi-Van service, including eliminating the free service for blind passengers.
In an editorial, the Burlington Post sharply criticized the new plan. The Post wrote,
“The City of Burlington has some explaining to do with regard to its recent decision to discontinue a 36-year-old transit fare exemption for people who are blind…
“While… [the AODA] requires Ontario municipalities to ensure fare parity, it does not prevent the city from giving fare exemptions, according to the Ministry of Community and Social Services.
“For some reason, the city didn’t interpret [the provincial act] that way — or at least its transit department didn’t.
“Was this really just a case of AODA being misinterpreted by transit staff or was there another agenda at work here?
“Is it possible the elimination of free and reduced fares — anticipated to save the city $21,400 each year — was an effort to offset an estimated annual loss of $40,600 in Handi-Van revenue caused by the application of AODA?
“Also, why were transit staff tasked with interpreting provincial legislation instead of the city’s legal department?”
Responding to the criticism, Hamilton city council reversed its earlier decision to implement the new policies and voted to put the fare parity policies on hold at least until April 1. In the meantime, DARTS passengers would continue to pay the same fares, using the same tickets that they use today, while staff consult with provincial officials and report back to council.
In Burlington, council decided to continue to provide free fares to blind passengers, although it will implement fare parity between regular Burlington Transit and its Handi-Van service in the new year.
Although Hamilton and Burlington are not the only Ontario municipalities to struggle with implementing fare parity on their transit systems, apparently they are the only ones to propose removing free fares for blind passengers.
Durham Region Transit implemented a similar fare parity policy between conventional DRT services its Specialized Services, starting Saturday, December 1.