- B. Larmer provided an overview of the motions that were provided at the Committee of the Whole meeting on February 16, 2021 and the referral from Council to the AAC.
- Council is asking for identification of what is required above and beyond services from Century to provide that information.
- J. Ford: I want to stress the fact that we are not asking for additional things but to not take away what has been happening for a decade. The WHEELS service has been:
- Providing assistance for people getting on and off the bus for people with a manual chair;
- If you need to press a button, they will press that button;
- They will come to the door if you are waiting at the doctor's appointment to make sure you are coming on the bus.
- J. Ford: The service provider wants to reduce the service level.
- E. Sheffield: I appreciate that Council wants to hear from us and am grateful that Council wants to hear from us. We should put all of those aspects forward into the document and formalize it for the service provider.
- S. Caron: They are asking us to come up with a specific list of what we want.
- J. Ford: We want them to stop trying to take it away.
- E. Sheffield: A list of what they historically and currently.
- S. Caron: Just about what we want to do it moving forward.
- K. Richards: If need be, they need to get on the bus and transport us. The drivers will provide assistance on an as needed basis to board and disembark, but it is up to everyone else (and the built environment) to make sure that they have appropriate push buttons, doorbells, etc.
- J. Ford: We made it a curb to curb service with that motion but that isn't what we have had for the last decade.
- B. Larmer: We are providing a service based on legilsation but it is not the responsbility of the driver if they can go into another organization or engage with the built environment. This falls under the Transportation Standard, not the Built Environment Standard
Councillor Chorley provided questions to the AAC about the bus system.
- Has the Committee had the opportunity to see the new winch in action? If not, can a demo be arranged? Do they have any feedback on this equipment?
- Will the winch address the service gap that was created last year when the drivers were told they can no longer help wheelchair users navigate the vehicle ramp?
- Are there any other specific forms of assistance that the driver should provide? Which actions are essential, and which would be ‘nice to have’?
Discussion re winch:
- T. Mills: The drivers have not been trained on it so it is not in use as of yet.
- L. Wills to follow up on the training and when that will be in place.
- S. Caron: We will work on getting that information to you.
Discussion re assistance:
- E. Chorley: On and off on the bus is essential but the pushing a button is a "nice to have."
Policy and Applcation Discussion
- At the end of the meeting, J. Ford requested to look into the application.
- E. Sheffield: Should we do the policy and application once we have the information back once we have the information from Century.
- J. Ford: We should finalize the application now.
- L. Wills: It would be best to do them at the same time once we have the information. The timeline for getting the information back depends on when Century provides that information back to us but we will follow up with them to make sure we are getting them on time.
- E. Sheffield: Could we call a special meeting when the information comes back to us?
- S. Caron: Yes, we could do that once the information comes back.
- J. Ford: We need look into this and have a meeting about the application. I would like to have a working group on this sooner rather than later.
- E. Sheffield: Can we consider them as one for the working session?
- S. Caron: Yes, with extreme focus on the application after we hear back from Century.
- J. Ford: Sooner rather than later, I would like to deal with the application form.