By Pamela Cook
In response to a 2001 study, OC Transpo says it will be making changes to improve O-Train accessibility, in consultation with the study’s creator, Disabled and Proud.
“Accessibility is a very high priority on our list,” says Helen Gault, OC Transpo’s planning manager. “We do try to keep those lines of communication open.”
Gault says OC Transpo will begin making the initial changes as soon as the weather is warmer.
She says an automatic pushbutton door and a redesigned curb will be added to the street exit of Greenboro station near South Keys.
Also, 60 metres of railing will be added along the path from the west-bound Transitway station to the O-Train platform at Bayview. Platforms will be repainted to identify the edges.
Disabled and Proud president Charles Matthews says his organization will meet with OC Transpo in March to discuss other recommendations from the accessibility study.
The 40 recommendations, first compiled in November 2001, address items like the gap between the train and the platforms, missing guardrails, and slopes that are too long or too steep.
Gault says some of Matthews’ concerns have already been addressed.
“We do have an ongoing objective to make sure those platform extenders stay level because the track settles or the platform extenders themselves sag,” she says.
Matthews says he is encouraged by OC Transpo’s willingness to discuss the study.
“I’d like to remain as positive as possible,” he says. “We’ve opened up their eyes.”
However, Matthews says he is concerned OC Transpo may be “missing the point in a lot of cases.”
For instance, while the platforms are scheduled to be painted to clearly mark the edges, Matthews recommends that “tactile,” or physical markers, be placed along the edge of the platform so that a person who is blind can make out the edge.
Gault says that OC Transpo has always been committed to providing accessible service. For example, now that the city has committed another two years to the O-Train pilot project, more funds can be used to improve it.
“With a pilot project, you do what you can and as the system is made more permanent, those elements can be improved,” Gault explains.
Gault says OC Transpo will not accept all of Disabled and Proud’s recommendations. However, she estimates that any improvements will cost between $20,000 and $30,000.
Carleton University Disability Awareness Centre program co-ordinator Candice MacIntosh is a regular O-Train rider who says she will benefit from the improvements.
“I’m very excited,” says MacIntosh, who uses a wheelchair and is visually impaired. “I think it’s really going to improve Ottawa’s transit.”
MacIntosh says she’s eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new curb at Greenboro. She explains that people who are visually impaired are taught to line up perpendicular to the curb before crossing.
The current curb has been designed in a way that sends people in the wrong direction, into traffic, instead of across to the mall sidewalk, she says.
“One of the goals of the disabled is to be treated equally,” MacIntosh says. “OC Transpo is helping to make that goal possible.”