By: Debbie Jeffery
Many people who are blind or low vision rely on public transit to travel independently within their communities. When public transit is available and accessible, people can actively participate in their communities and live the lives they choose.
Ensuring that public transit is available and accessible to everyone means removing barriers along every step of the journey, like installing accessible pedestrian signals at intersections and removing snow and ice around transit stops.
Blondine Arsenault knows all about this. She has been making calls and knocking on doors to make subsidized door-to-door transportation a reality.
Blondine regularly uses both the Codiac buses and the Urban Rural Rides Program. This program is powered by volunteers offering subsidized door-to-door weekday transportation for medical appointments and other essential travel. However, evening and weekend trips are not available, nor are trips to social or community events—until now.
CNIB brought this gap in services to the attention of the City of Moncton Accessibility Advisory Committee. The Committee and community partners explored several options and learned that a door-to-door transit service could benefit many Moncton residents.
Hearing the community’s concerns, the City of Moncton agreed to fund the service as a pilot project. The Urban Rural Rides organization will oversee the project, and a local taxi company will provide any subsidized door-to-door trips that the organization’s volunteers cannot manage.
With the snow and ice of winter months leading to increased levels of isolation for many people who are blind or have low vision, access to another option for autonomous travel is a much-needed step in the right direction. The program will have a tremendous benefit for residents of Moncton.
To learn more about Urban / Rural rides, visit https://urbanruralrides.ca/