In May of 2004, Regional Council approved the recommended strategy outlined in the “Study of Transportation for Persons with Disabilities”. A year later, in May of 2005, the Region of Peel hired a Transportation Accessibility Specialist to work with local transit, other transportation providers, and the community to put in place a collaborative family of services.

The current work of the Transportation Accessibility Specialist is focused on expanding knowledge on accessible transportation, network building, and exploring the potential for partnerships between community transportation agencies in the health care sector.

In the proposed work plan for the first year of this new position, the Transportation Accessibility Specialist will focus on initiatives to support improved conventional transit accessibility. These initiatives could include: reduced fare incentives for passengers with disabilities who elect to use conventional transit; development of a travel training program; development and test piloting of a travel escort program for those needing supervision or assistance during travel; and a conventional transit information and education marketing strategy.  The implementation of any new conventional transit initiatives that have a financial impact will depend on collaboration and cooperation between transit services and local area municipalities.

As part of the effort to champion increased use of conventional transit by people with disabilities, the Transportation Accessibility Specialist will conduct a range of focus groups with youth, seniors, family members, people with disabilities in multicultural communities, and others to identify and foster the development of new transportation initiatives and coalitions. The feedback from the focus groups will also provide an understanding of the special and unique transit training needs of youth who will become our future accessible transit consumers.

A second area of focus for the Transportation Accessibility Specialist for 2005/2006 will be to develop an initial conceptual framework for a Specialized Transit Coordinating Office. Some potential functions for this office include:

• Continuing to develop transportation partnerships with agencies
• Working with agencies that fund and/or provide transportation to promote service integration, joint use, and cooperation in areas such as purchasing, maintenance, and training
• Providing input to conventional transit regarding their plans to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities
• Providing information on accessible transportation to Peel residents

Appendix V (PDF 28KB, 2 pages)