Communication #1
March 6, 2023
To the members of LTC,
Thank you for the opportunity to present and provide documentation to the LTC. As described in the letter requesting delegation status, for too long disabled Londoners have been confined by a broken and fragmented accessible transit system. Rather than providing access to our city, Paratransit demands users to form their lives around the system, whether it is spending hours on the phone trying to book a ride or having work, medical and social life determined by a limited number of pick-up times. Our broken system is leaving far too many disabled folks waiting at the curb, unable to equitably participate in the social and economic opportunities enjoyed by nondisabled Londoners.
Within this package, we have included a brief presentation with important perspectives, context, and statistics to help assess the current state of Paratransit in London. We have also included a number of stories, anecdotes and opinions shared by Paratransit riders who felt it was important to give a view into a life disabled by our system. While shocking and unacceptable, these experiences are all too common for those reliant on Paratransit and reflect a dysfunctional parallel transit system that the London Transit Commission has been either unable or unwilling to fix.
Accessible transit in London is possible, but only if you choose to act.
Jeff Preston, PhD, Associate Professor, King’s University College at Western University
Jacqueline Madden, Former ACCAC Chair
Wendy Lau, CEO, LEADS Employment Services
Enclosures
I – Paratransit Comparison – Similarly Sized Municipalities and Regions