By Julia Rim
Nina Woods, 81, has been using Para Transpo for nine years because arthritis has made it difficult to get around.
“I am very content with the service,” she says. “I use it to go almost everywhere.”
On Jan. 1, the province stopped paying its $6.6-million portion of Para Transpo’s $15.2-million budget. The region must meet the shortfall.
But despite the provincial cuts, riders like Woods can remain confident the service will continue to run as usual, say regional officials.
Al Loney, chair of the OC Transpo Commission, says he believes the region will not cut the budget further, and that service will not change.
“To avoid cuts, we’ll cut staff in administration departments if we have to,” Loney says.
Patrick Larkin, director of Para Transpo, agrees. “We will continue to provide the same level of service in the coming year,” he says.
Para Transpo, an alternative transit system, helps people with various disabilities get around the city. Users range from people in wheelchairs to those who use canes. Last year, it provided 750,000 rides.
From 9 a.m. until midnight, Para Transpo runs regular bus routes as well as providing door-to-door service.
To avoid reducing services, Loney says the region will find other sources of funding.
One way of doing so is to spend a larger portion of the property tax bill — about 25 per cent — on social services such as public transportation, says Loney. He also says there is a possibility the region may increase taxes.
Still, for some, simply maintaining the same level of service is not enough.
Peter McGrath is the executive director of the Ottawa-Carleton Independent Living Centre, a resource centre for the disabled. He says the region needs to improve the service.
McGrath says maintaining current levels of service for the new year still won’t meet users’ needs.
“(Maintaining service levels) effectively means cuts because the demand for service is increasing every year,” he says. “We pay the same taxes, so why do we have less access?”
McGrath says 26,000 applicants for the Para Transpo service were turned away last year.
Still, Loney says he doesn’t foresee improvements in the service.
“To suggest growth in the service is dangerous. It could mean we would have to decimate other services. It’s better to go with no change in ’98.”
While Para Transpo is not looking at increasing its services, 20 new low-floor buses with access ramps should be up and running on Ottawa’s streets in February. The new buses will be able to serve some disabled people, which could help lessen Para Transpo’s load.
These are the first of 160 buses purchased by the province and region last year. The rest of the buses will be phased in over the next three to four years.