Accessible Transit is for Everyone
Many years ago, Paul Simon sang, “Just hop on the bus, Gus...” But what if hopping on or off of anything is impossible for someone due to physical disability.
But to look at it the other way around, it is not age or health, in and of themselves, that keep people from moving about in their communities.
Instead, it is often poor urban planning and the way that our communities that are designed that restrict accessibility. So often, making public places open to people of all abilities is an afterthought. If buildings and transportation infrastructure are designed from the very beginning stages to be open to all, it becomes good design for all. An example of this is when washrooms are designed to be accessible for wheelchairs, they incidentally become much easier for parents with small children in strollers.
The point is that no matter who we are or where we live, we all have the need to be able to get around our communities in ways that best works for us.
With this in mind, we would like to highlight an important report.
In June of 2024, the municipality of North Cowichan officially adopted a “Transportation Equity” policy which means that as a citizen, regardless of income or mobility status, each one of us has the right to move about our communities unimpeded. (https://www.northcowichan.ca/MTP)
As citizens, we have the right to freedom of movement but that is a hollow promise if our communities are designed to create barrier to that mobility.
This is why it is so important to have “transportation equity” as a starting point upon which all other transportation plans are decided and implemented. It is like getting community planners to put on a special set of lens to be able to see the community in new ways wherein all the barriers to freedom of movement become glaringly obvious and can be removed.
It is part of human dignity and well-being to be able to get where we need to be, safely and independently, whether that is on scheduled bus routes or with an adequately funded handyDART service, everyone of us should to be able to access the means of transportation that broadens our possibilities for fully participating in the communities where we live, work, and play.