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Seniors, people with disabilities could be hit hard by stalled funding – HandyDART Riders’ Alliance

Seniors and people with disabilities could suffer from social isolation and lack of access to medical services due to a continued freeze of HandyDART service hours, according to Beth McKellar, co-coordinator of the HandyDART Riders’ Alliance.
Transit ballot

Seniors and people with disabilities could suffer from social isolation and lack of access to medical services due to a continued freeze of HandyDART service hours, according to Beth McKellar, co-coordinator of the HandyDART Riders’ Alliance.

Increased funding for the service was part of the transportation plan put forward by the Mayors’ Council.

The plan, and the 0.5 per cent additional sales tax that would fund transit projects, was rejected by voters in the recent transit plebiscite.

Users of the door-to-door service often have to book days, or even a week or more, in advance and sometimes have to wait hours for a return trip, according to McKellar.

Service hours have been frozen since 2009, while the need for the service has grown.

“They just don’t realize, we are a tsunami,” she told the NOW. “We are a demographic that is more than they could ever comprehend, because we all get old.”

McKellar walks with a crutch after she suffered a spinal cord injury 16 years ago. She has used the Handy-DART service since the injury.

“It keeps me out of a wheelchair for now,” she said, adding, “I suffer from horrendous muscle spasms that include horrendous pain.”

The alliance is going to wait until TransLink’s interim CEO, Doug Allen, is replaced by a permanent successor before campaigning for changes to the Handy-DART system again, according to McKellar.

“I’m going to lay low for a little bit, then we will come and start knocking on doors and testing the waters,” she said, but added she would continue fighting for previous service levels to be restored. “I am not going away, just like the HandyDART Riders’ Alliance is never going away. Because we’re there to fight for our rights to be treated with respect, dignity and courtesy.”

The Mayors’ Council plan included an additional 190,000 annual hours to the service, which reflects a 30 per cent increase to existing service levels over 10 years.

The Mayors’ Council also proposed splitting HandyDART costs with the provincial government.