As some of you may know, I have to take Access Calgary Transit to get to where I want to go on a day-to-day basis. With that being said, I’ve had so many frustrating experiences lately that make me question the existence of their services in Calgary. Sometimes it feels like, instead of improving or bridging the gaps for accessibility, they are making accessibility that much harder and removing the space for someone else to provide the same services, at a better level to actual meet needs
I want to specifically outline a few recent incidents that have occurred, with one of the most frustrating ones being on October 25, 2023. My experience waiting for ACCESS pickup at the Core Shopping Centre left me stuck waiting for over 2 hours, and I believe it's crucial to bring this matter to the attention of the government as this is a common, not rare nor secluded experience that many folks using Access face every single day.
With that being said, I am hoping to take this all the way to the government of Canada, and I’m hoping to speak in the House of Commons to have my voice heard. From my understanding, Access is a program offered by Calgary Transit to improve accessibility, but such programs may not be available across the country in other provinces or territories, or where they do exist, they have procedural issues in operating to their best capacity. This could be minimized with a federally governed and managed, across Canada, accessible transit system. By managing it federally, this would allow for this program to exist in other communities across Canada where accessibility may be an issue that has not been appropriately addressed and allow for better overview, insight and maintenance of policies and procedures to ensure accessible transit is not inadvertently limiting or reducing accessibility. I want to talk to the federal government, about making their own accessible transit nationwide.
I have reached out to Access to discuss this in the past, with no changes being made and still running into the same problems. I have since escalated this issue to the City of Calgary, the Mayor of Calgary, many Councillors, many Members of Parliament, the Premier of Alberta, the Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities, and the Alberta Human Rights Commission. I have also once again reached out to Access to provide a solution that addresses the policy and procedural issues with Access inadvertently limiting accessibility for persons like myself, but have not yet heard back.
For some context, these are some of the situations that have occurred which are the reason behind my call for change. The first one occurred on October 28, 2023. My scheduled pick-up time was between 3:00 and 3:20, a window that already poses an inconvenience, requiring me to wait for twenty minutes without a confirmed time. I also have been told to arrive at the pickup location ten minutes before or wait ten minutes after as sometimes the driver may arrive early or late without any warning. To add to my frustration, I did not receive a confirmation call that day regarding my pick-up, leaving me uncertain about whether or not ACCESS would arrive as scheduled - this was the second snow day of this Winter. Despite this, I arrived at 2:40 to ensure I was there on time and waiting, and I waited until 3:30 with no sign of the vehicle.
During this time, I called ACCESS five times, each time receiving conflicting information. The first call, at 3:15 p.m. was to confirm my ride and ensure someone was on their way, to which I was informed that a call was merely a courtesy, and that the driver was on the way and 5 minutes out. It would be nice to know if you are getting a ride in such a bad snow storm, and raises accessibility issues as well. Following that, I called back at 3:20 p.m., and I was advised that the driver was already parked outside, which led to a frantic but fruitless search for the ACCESS vehicle, going back and forth from each possible pick up point. When we couldn't locate the driver, at the exact location they advised us he was it, I was promised a callback after an attempt to reach the driver. No callback was received, and subsequent calls led to similar responses. I called back at 3:25 and got the same response, that the driver was outside. I once again frantically searched at every entrance for the ACCESS vehicle, but with no luck. I was then advised that they would try to get ahold of the driver and they placed me on hold. She picked up again and advised that they cannot get ahold of the driver, and will attempt to discuss with a supervisor and call us back. Once again, we received no call. We called back at 3:30 and were advised that the driver had marked us as a no-show, which was not possible as we were there well in advance and kept checking every entrance, and called to confirm multiple times. This call was forwarded to the supervisor and then I was advised that the driver cancelled, and that this is usually likely due to a mechanical issue, but they would look into it and get back to me. I kept receiving conflicting information the entire time, they were even blaming it on me at some points, telling me I was a no show. An urgent pickup request was placed, and I was told to expect the next pick-up between 4:30 and 4:50, which equates to a delay of approximately 1.5 to 2 hours. I ended up being picked up at 5, which was ten minutes later than expected as well, and two hours after my scheduled pick up time. Once again, this was during our first winter storm this year.
I was reassured multiple times that this situation would be looked into to figure out what happened and what went wrong, what could be improved on, and so forth. They took our contact information down and it has since been months since this incident, and we have not heard back at all directly from Access regarding what happened and why. We also attempted to send an email to Access directly, but did not receive a response back on our inquiry into contact information for someone who would listen.
Another situation occurred on Saturday November 4, I was heading home on an Access ride after winning my hockey game. My driver for the drop off was driving on my residential street, almost to my drop off location, which was my house, when suddenly he pulled over. I thought he was looking for my house and so I let him know that it’s right over ahead of us. He told me he had received a message on his computer and he needed to go pick someone up. I told him my house is right there but he said no that he missed the pickup and he needs to go there right now. So instead of dropping me off even though I was basically almost home, he made me tag along for the pickup. Why didn’t he drop me off and pick her up and be on his Merry way? Why make it a whole runaround situation for everyone involved including myself, the other passenger, himself, and the ACCESS vehicle and its gas tank?
Another situation occurred today on January 3, 2024, where I was scheduled to be dropped off to the Westside Recreation Centre for my weekly swim routine. My requested drop off time was 11 a.m., which Access confirmed means that the earliest time I could be dropped off is 10:40 a.m.by their policies and standards. However, I was picked up at 9:48 a.m. and dropped off at my destination at 10:04 a.m., an hour earlier than requested. I was meeting up with someone, and due to the changes in drop off times, I had to wait almost an hour. That speaks to the barriers and accessibility issues of Access in assisting with daily transportation needs for social commitments.
I want to highlight these situation, not because they are all a one off experience that I experienced, but because this is something that has happened and continues to happen to almost everyone who uses Access, and almost all the time. I have been using Access for years, and have consistently had issues. I was on the Access Eligibility Appeal board in the past and have heard many similar stories and experiences, and have also tried to raise my concerns in the past. It seems like there is no one you can talk to, or nothing you can do to face this systemic discrimination against people with disabilities. Which is why I am taking it to the House of Commons, in hopes to spark a bigger conversation on how we can work to fix this, and improve the lives of Canadians with disabilities who require support for transportation to enjoy their lives and livelihood.
