An Ottawa group has started a petition to change the OC Transpo animal policy to allow pets other than service animals to ride on Ottawa buses during off-peak hours.
It’s a terrible idea and one that the city should ignore. The petition calls for a pilot project to test it. The plan would give bus drivers discretion to refuse certain pets. A bull mastiff, for example, could be refused because it’s just too large.
The petition says that this policy would allow low-income people to get their pets to the vet and would allow people to transport therapy animals. Indeed, there is no good reason why OC Transpo couldn’t create a narrowly tailored exception to its current rules to accommodate sick animals and therapy dogs.
Perhaps a vet note, in the form of an email that could be shown to the driver would authenticate the trip.
It’s everyone else and their animals that would create problems.
Anyone who is allergic to animals can attest to just how annoying it is to be stuck around an animal. You show up at a house party and you end up a sneezing, nose-blowing mess for the entire evening.
Nobody wants to show up at work looking like that or get home afterwards all rheumy and wheezing. What advocates of a policy change don't seem to realize is that this is the reality for all those who are allergic to pets.
Allergies may have not even factored into the calculation of the pet expo people and perhaps the signees of the petition simply don’t see considering the comfort of other passengers as a big issue. However, for many, animals are a real annoyance.
It has nothing to do with disliking animals or disrespecting owners. It does, however, have everything to do with the ability to ride on public transit without distress or discomfort.
The petition suggests that the pets would be restricted to non-peak hours only. However, this attempt to mitigate the damage doesn't go very far, because hair, fur and saliva remain after the pet is gone and can cause reactions.
Furthermore, if you’re out and about with your animal, and not on the way to the vet, why wouldn’t you want to give it some exercise? It’s a measure of cruelty, almost by definition, to keep a dog locked up in a downtown apartment all day. To then take it on the bus instead of walking it somewhere doesn’t make any sense.
There’s also the obvious logistical issue of where you stow your animal while riding. Even crates for small dogs and cats are the size of a hefty suitcase. If it doesn’t fit under the seat, where would it go? Surely a crate can’t take up an extra seat on the bus – there’s little enough space as it is.
And none of this considers the Herculean mess that even small animals are capable of making.
This is a solution in search of a problem under the pretense of fixing an issue the city faces. However, in actuality, it creates a much larger problem in terms of logistsics and comfort for everyone who rides the bus.