Regional Government

Accessibility Planning Program 2007

Appendices

Appendix III: Highlights of Selected Accessibility Initiatives July 2006- June 2007

• TransHelp
• Accessible Transportation Coordination Office
• Region of Peel: Liveable Peel Initiative
• Peel Children’s Water Festival:

TransHelp – Making Transportation more accessible than ever:

At TransHelp we strive to provide our clients quality transportation & outstanding customer service over and above industry expectations. You’re probably aware of the daily transportation we provide to work, school and medical appointments but did you know we also accommodate many special requests from clients and community agencies across Peel Region who would otherwise face obstacles in securing transportation to many vital programs and events?

This year, TransHelp answered the call of our community and assisted in the following initiatives:
 

1. Accessibility Forum – In March the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee requested transportation for the committee members to attend a very important accessibility forum that was held in Oshawa, Ontario. TransHelp gladly volunteered a driver for the day to provide transportation to and from the forum. The transportation was provided at no additional cost to the members of the committee, as TransHelp is a strong supporter in the advancement of accessibility equality for all Ontarians.
2. Mississauga Paralympics Trials & Connections Resource Fair – In the Spring of 2007 TransHelp was asked by our Advisory Committee if we would consider providing a shuttle service for the Paralympics Trials and The Connections Resource Fair held in Mississauga.  Again, we answered the call and provided a driver and vehicle to transport attendees to and from these events.
3. Community Living Mississauga and Erinoak Summer Programs – TransHelp continues to provide transportation to and from important summer programs for children and teens participating in various summer programs with Community Living and Erinoak. Transportation is provided at the regular fare and accommodates participants who need to attend programs outside of the Region including Toronto, Oakville and Burlington. Cross border transportation remains a challenge for people with disabilities who rely on specialized transit services. We believe by helping out with initiatives such as these that the challenge of coordinating transportation across borders will improve for those who most need it.
4. Saturday Bus Service – In June 2006 TransHelp introduced Saturday bus service to complement the existing service offered by our taxi vendors. The response and demand for bus service on Saturday has been very positive to date. The Saturday service has seen an increase of approximately 40% additional trips to our passengers since we added buses to our regular Saturday service.
5. Sunday Bus Service – After seeing the success of Saturday bus service we launched a Sunday bus pilot in July 2007. Until then, trip requests for Sunday had been limited to approximately 100 trips. With the addition of five buses on Sundays, we are now able to increase this number to 150 trips allowing more passengers to travel on Sundays. The pilot will be evaluated in December 2007 for feasibility and effectiveness and determination on whether to increase the number of buses available on Sundays.
6. New Year’s Eve Service – On December 31, 2007, Transhelp will be providing an extended holiday hours service to provide TransHelp clients service in a manner consistent with the conventional transit system. This initiative was brought forward by the members of the TransHelp Advisory Committee as part of their annual report to Regional Council.  TransHelp will launch a pilot bus service on New Year’s Eve this year.  On New Year’s Eve, the buses will operate until 2:00 a.m. and all rides scheduled between 7:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. will be free of charge.  This policy is consistent with Mississauga and Brampton transit operation for New Year’s Eve Service. The pilot will be evaluated in January 2008 to review demand and the need to continue the service.   
7. Service Improvement Initiative – TransHelp has introduced several service improvement initiatives and to date continues to bring together our Service Improvement Team, which looks at ways to improve service to our clients. Some of the benefits our clients have seen as a result of this initiative are:
   • Reduced phone wait times
   • A streamlined and more effective complaint handling process
   • Shortened advanced booking requirements
   • More available trips, elimination of weekend trip ceilings
   • Additional assessment dates to eliminate backlog
   • Increased connection points for better cross border transportation

Our clients drive our decision making process when we undergo new service improvements. The TransHelp Advisory Committee is made up of passenger representatives and regularly provides input to the TransHelp Operation. Opportunities for providing feedback have been increased through customer comment cards available on the vehicles, by calling our customer comment line, by speaking to a Customer Service Representative at the Customer Contact Centre or by emailing your thoughts to our Customer Service Coordinator.

Accessible Transportation Coordination Office:

Over the past two years, the Accessible Transportation Coordination Office (ATCO) has been created, and is now evolving to provide three main functions:

1. Act as a referral to direct the public to appropriate accessible services.
2. Provide support to transit, including TransHelp, to optimize access to and use of their services
3. Serve as a brokerage to administer community services aimed at providing additional travel supports for all passengers with disabilities; and providing health and social transportation that cannot be offered by local transit or TransHelp. These community services include travel training, and direct health and social transportation to dialysis, day programs and community living programs.

New for 2007 is the approval of funding for a Passenger Assistant program. The Passenger Assistant Program or PA program, is a door to door, or hand to hand service depending on the nature of each client’s disability and self-identified needs.

Many passengers, who require supervision for the duration of their ride, will now have the option of traveling without a caregiver using a trained Passenger Assistant. Two buses, scheduled to begin operating in 2008 are being ordered for this pilot project which will provide a unique travel opportunity for those living with disabilities in the Peel Region.

In the future, the role of Passenger Assistants will be expanded so that they will also be able to provide assistance to disabled riders on conventional local transit and during rides provided by volunteer driver programs.  Cost sharing for the Passenger Assistants will be sought from families and community agencies as the service grows.

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Region of Peel - Liveable Peel:

The Liveable Peel initiative was created to help the Region of Peel plan for growth 30 to 50 years into the future.  Peel Region is currently facing significant growth pressures, an aging population and an increasingly diverse community fuelled by strong immigration. The Region is currently examining these and other trends into the future and determining their potential implications for Regional programs and services, in order to ensure that Peel residents continue to enjoy a high quality of life over the long-term. An important aspect of ensuring a high quality of life in Peel is providing human services that meet the diverse needs of the population; therefore, trends concerning the increasing population of older adults (55+ years) and persons with disabilities are important considerations for Liveable Peel. 

Liveable Peel is a valuable initiative for the Region’s Executive Management Team (EMT), which has established an internal Liveable Peel Steering Committee made up of senior staff from across the Corporation.  In August 2006, the committee established a number of priority project areas: immigration and examination of human capital and employment needs; housing; and the impacts of growth on watersheds.

In terms of housing, the Region is experiencing changing needs due to rapid population growth, significant immigration, and changing socio-economic and demographic conditions. The 2006 Census data reveal that the Region has an older adult population making up about 19% of the total population, which is 3% more than this group’s share in 2001. It is estimated that by 2051, 38% of Peel’s population will be older adults (55+) and half of them will be 70 years or older. The growth in the aging population will have an increased demand for safe and accessible housing and health services. The current practices of developing standard suburban style communities that promote segregation of land uses will need to be changed. The municipalities will have to take these demographic trends into consideration and find innovative tools and options to encourage the development of new communities to be ingrained with accessibility features and supportive services.

Regional staff are consulting with the area municipalities and working together on a Housing Strategy to identify housing issues, needs, and demand and develop strategic actions to provide opportunities for a full range of affordable, accessible and appropriate housing for Peel’s current and future residents. The comprehensive housing strategy is planned to be completed by June 2008. During the course of this project, three discussion papers and the final housing strategy will be prepared. The three discussion papers will address different housing issues and areas:

1) housing availability throughout the life-cycle;
2) diversity of housing needs; and
3) housing affordability.

The discussion paper on housing availability throughout the life-cycle will address the needs of the older adult population, including the future needs for long-term care and retirement homes. As people grow up and grow old, their housing needs change. The goal of achieving housing availability throughout the life cycle is to allow Peel residents to live in the same community throughout their lives, even if their life stage or lifestyle change, by providing a variety of housing types and choices in collaboration with supportive services. The discussion paper on diversity of housing needs will address the current and future needs for accessible, special-needs and social housing, factors that hinder the supply, and tools and options available to increase the supply of these types of housing. This discussion paper will explore innovative options and concepts such as Universal Design for providing safe and accessible homes to the diverse range of ages and abilities of people.

The third discussion paper will identify affordability issues, the factors that influence housing demand and affordability in Peel and alternative sources to provide affordable housing. This paper will also examine new opportunities for the municipalities to permit secondary suites and garden suites as a result of the recent changes to Ontario’s Planning Act (Bill 51: Planning and Conservation Land Statute Law Amendment Act, which received Royal Assent in 2006). The final housing strategy will build on the work and data collected for the three discussion papers and establish short- and long-term priorities and formulate strategic actions, accompanied by an implementation plan. The recommendations coming from the housing strategy for priority actions will be presented to the Council for information and approval. 

In conclusion, the Liveable Peel initiative and its associated projects are mindful of the needs and concerns of the aging population and persons with disabilities. 

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Peel Children’s Water Festival:

The 2007 Peel Children’s Water Festival (PCWF) was held May 24 to May 30, 2007 (excluding Sunday, May 27) at Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton.  The PCWF is a six-day, annual environmental education program which provides learning opportunities to Peel elementary students, in grades two through five on the school days of the event and is open to all Peel residents on the Family Fun Day event.  Using more than 50 hands-on and interactive activities, participants are exposed to important environmental messages related to the protection and stewardship of water resources.

This year’s event marks the twelfth Festival, with more than 55,000 Peel students having attended the event since its inception in 1996.  The Public Works Department played a leadership role this year by providing the theme for the Festival, which was “Only Tap Water Delivers”.  “Only Tap Water Delivers” flows from the Region’s Strategic Plan, specifically Goal #3, which is the “preserve, protect and enhance Peel’s natural environment and resources” and Goal #1 to “improve the community’s health, social well-being and safety.”  A cluster of new activities was developed that emphasize the importance of tap water being essential to public health, fire protection and support for the economy and our quality of life.

This year the festival’s organizing committee committed to improving accessibility to the Festival for the children.  In order to fulfill this objective a member of the Regional Accessibility Planning Program was included on the Festival Steering Committee.  A member of the Joint Peel-Caledon Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) was also selected to sit on the Operations Sub-committee and the Activities Sub-committee.  Through the focus of making activities more experiential and eliminating operational barriers, the Festival greatly improved the overall accessibility of the event.  Accomplishments included the incorporation of an accessibility activity related to water, revising activity scripts to be more inclusive and experiential and editing communication material to clearly mark limited accessibility areas.

The planning and execution of the PCWF is achieved through the collaborative efforts of many external partners and the Region of Peel’s Health, Planning, Corporate Services and Public Works Departments.
 

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Privacy Service Commitment