Blind transit users resist loss of bus passes

Advocates claim they can't use many services.

Metro Transit gives about 500 free bus passes to the blind annually, but the free rides will stop come July.

Ellen Johnson, a legally blind student of occupational therapy at Dalhousie University thinks giving free bus passes to the blind is reasonable.

“I think that it’s fair, because I don’t have the option to drive,” says Johnston.  Fortunately, Johnston has a U-Pass, which offers Halifax university students reduced fares on Metro Transit. But she questions whether blind students and faculty should pay the same amount for their discounted student passes as everyone else.

Barry Abbott, of the Atlantic Centre of Research, Access and Support for Students with Disabilities, feels it's wrong to charge the blind the same fares as everyone else without offering them the same services. Abbott is blind himself.

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Mary MacDonald, says taking away passes from the blind is "a step backwards." (photo: Carrie Gilbert)

 “What do you get as a transit user that I don’t?" he asks. "You can see all the bus times. You can see the GoTimes numbers on those signs. You can see the numbers on the buses. You can get the riders’ guide. You can get maps ... We don’t get any of that.”

But Metro Transit spokesperson Lori Patterson, told CBC reporters that the decision to take away free bus passes from the blind stemmed from issues of equality. "We're trying to be fair to everybody, and this is what we have to do," said Patterson.

Mary Macdonald, a mature Dalhousie student who uses a wheelchair and has muscular dystrophy, says she never resented blind people for having free passes.

"I don't think it's unfair at all. I would never complain about something like that … It is just such a step backwards," says Macdonald, who was a volunteer member of the Halifax Regional Municipality’s Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities in 2001, when city officials first debated the issue.

Blind face serious transit challenges

The Canadian Federation of the Blind estimates that a staggering 90 per cent of blind people are unemployed. For those who won’t be able to afford to pay for a bus pass, walking is often their only option.

"Walking, especially in winter, can be hazardous (for the blind)," says Tina Tucker, acting manager of Dalhousie University's Accessibility Services. She adds that unplowed roads coupled with a lack of sidewalks in the municipality makes walking particularly treacherous.

But riding the bus is not always the best option for the blind either. Jeff Overmars, co-chair of the Halifax chapter of the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians, points out that using Metro Transit can be inconvenient and even dangerous for the blind.

"Metro Transit drivers frequently refuse to announce transit stops at the request of riders who are blind or have low vision," says Overmars.  "Drivers repeatedly refuse to pull up to the curb at a bus stop due to ice buildup.  Stops are often left with mounds of snow between the sidewalk and the road because no one at Metro Transit manages to keep these sites cleared."

Expand services for the blind advocates say

“If we’re going to be expected to pay for transit, then I expect that there will be some more information made available,” says Abbott. "I want my GoTimes listed in Braille."

Councillor Jerry Blumenthal, who sits on the Accessible Transportation Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee for Persons with Disabilities, says he plans to fight to ensure that blind people get expanded transit services.

Blumenthal says he was the first  councillor to use Braille on his business card in Halifax, and thinks making GoTimes in Braille is a necessity the city is prepared to deal with."We've got our own Braille machine ...  I worked hard to get that for the municipality in 2000 and 2001," he says.  "If we (make Braille GoTimes) in house, it shouldn't be that expensive," he says.

Ideally, both Abbott and Macdonald would like to see discounted rates extended to people with other disabilities.

“I think the reasonable way to go… would be that anybody with a bonafide disability would get the same rate as seniors,” says Abbott, provided that there was an equality of service for the blind.

Macdonald goes a step further. “In a perfect world, maybe all people with disabilities would have a free pass,” she says. But she says “bullying” the blind isn’t going to get us any closer to this goal.

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