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This article was published 19/11/2019 (312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An advocacy group for the disabled community is blasting a transit report that placed a $75-million price tag on an accessibility request that no one had made.

Patrick Stewart, with the Independent Living Resource Centre, said no one in the disability community had requested buses to be modified for additional wheelchair space, adding the dollar amount appears meant to stifle further debate on making buses more accessible.

Stewart said the report wrongly suggests the disability community wants changes that could cost $75 million to modify the entire transit fleet at a time when transit is proposing service cuts and massive layoffs.

"This report might as well be about (buying) flying buses," Stewart said.

"When we move forward a report that no one asked for and put a price tag of $75 million for accessibility, it creates a lot of stigma within the community," Stewart said, explaining it sends the message that accessibility is both inconvenient and impossible. "By doing something like this, we really saw it as a stunt. It does a tremendous amount of disservice for a community that is already fighting as hard as possible for its rights."

The report from transit was in response to a request from Coun. Shawn Nason to examine the implications and costs of modifying transit buses to accommodate space for a third wheelchair.

Transit buses now can accommodate room for two wheelchairs at the front of the bus with a row of flip-up seats on each side.

The report said the only area where space for a third wheelchair could be located is opposite the rear door, adding that would necessitate removing seats and changing the fare box system to accommodate a second entrance for wheelchair users, at a cost of $130,000 per bus.

Stewart said when he had discussions with transit and Nason in the summer, there never was a request to add space for a third wheelchair; instead, he said he wanted transit to consider removing the flip-up seats to improve wheelchair access at the front and to abandon its first-come-first-serve policy that pits wheelchair users against individuals with strollers.

Stewart told the Free Press Nason acknowledged that he had posed the wrong question and that he would clear up the misunderstanding but he never did. Nason acknowledged that he had misunderstood the disability community’s concerns and would be in touch with Stewart but added he didn’t understand why transit produced the report if Stewart had also reached out to them.

Stewart said he had spoken to transit officials in the fall and he was assured the report would not be about a third wheelchair space but deal with the issues he had raised.

Stewart asked the committee to send the report back to transit for a proper response to his original request.

The committee, however, decided to shelve the report without requesting transit do another study.

Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the public works committee, defended transit and explained the report was in response to the request put to the department.

"When I asked the question, I thought we were asking the question (the community) wanted an answer to," Allard said, adding he’ll also be questioning Nason.

Stewart said he believes transit deliberately ignored his request and put out a false report with an impossible price tag at a time when the city is abuzz with budget cuts.

"Transit gleefully went on this fool’s errand because they knew what the answer was going to be," Stewart said. "They knew there was no demand from the (accessibility) community to add a third wheelchair seat…They knew when this committee asked this question, it was a ridiculous question to ask and they were more than happy to provide a ridiculous answer."

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca