Wheel-Trans says passengers travelling during the coronavirus outbreak don’t have to worry about being in crowded taxis contracted out by the service.

In a statement Monday, Toronto Transit Commission spokesperson Stuart Green revealed that Wheel-Trans is doing away with multi-passenger trips in taxis during the COVID-19 spread. The measures take effect immediately.

“It’s a temporary measure, something they (Wheel-Trans) are doing in response to the virus,” Green said.

The TTC provides Wheel-Trans, a special door-to-door accessible service for disabled people. Passengers are transported in contracted-out, accessible taxis or a fleet of Wheel-Trans’ accessible minibuses.

The Star learned of the changes after a reader, Catherine Jones, 54, a Toronto artist whose disability requires that she use a walker, contacted the newspaper to complain about a situation involving the Wheel-Trans service she has used for just over three years.

She said she has a medical test she can’t postpone at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre downtown booked for Wednesday.

Wary of the rules around social-distancing given COVID-19, Jones wanted to check on what procedures TTC and Wheel-Trans had put in place for the taxis they contract the transport service to. A taxi shared with two or three other clients is the mode of transportation Jones is often sent when she books Wheel-Trans.

“They told me no (new) procedures are in place, and they would not be putting any in place,” Jones said of her conversation with a Wheel-Trans staff member on the agency’s customer service line.

Jones said the customer service representative told her the TTC is “not in the business of private lifts,” and “you know that this (service) is funded by taxpayers,” suggesting she use Uber if she felt unsafe in Wheel-Trans’ taxis.

“I am a taxpayer,” Jones said she shot back at the representative on the phone.

Jones said she is worried about the many elderly people, vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, who could use the transit service.

“You can’t maintain the six-foot distance” that public health officials recommend people stay apart to avoid contracting the virus, Jones said in an interview. “And then they make multiple stops from pickup point to drop off point. You can be in the taxi for up to an hour with other Wheel-Trans customers.

“You’re lucky if there is 10 inches between us. You are squished in,” she said.

Monday afternoon, Jones said, “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

But after the Star talked to the TTC about Jones’ situation, Green emailed to say Wheel-Trans wanted to provide Jones with a solo taxi ride and that going forward, there would be only solo taxi rides for all users.

Green said Wheel-Trans had been considering solo rides for all customers during the COVID-19 spread. Those riding in the minibuses will be spaced apart. That should be easy to do as Wheel-Trans ridership is already down 75 per cent because the virus is keeping people at home.

Jones said she reached out to Wheel-Trans and was told she would have solo ride Wednesday, but customers who asked for one would be assessed on a case-by-case basis and would have to ask for the solo ride.

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“We hope as of tomorrow we will have the manual process implemented whereby we can deliver all trips solo,” Green later said.

Green said the “changes are happening and front-line (ride) bookers are manually making the changes.

“This is a work in progress to rebook. New bookings will be filtered this way,” Green added.