I hate public transit

When I was able-bodied, I was a big fan of public transit. I enjoyed how unique every bus route was, how you can "hop on, hop off" any time you want, how it saves you money and the hassle of driving, and especially the atmosphere on board if it's the same group of people who take the same route every day.

But since I started using a wheelchair, things changed.

There is a reason why I started this blog.

Many able-bodied people may find this shocking (or not, depending on who you are) but I believe that public transit has the most discriminatory atmosphere towards people with disabilities.

People with disabilities face a LOT of crap on public transit, moreso than anywhere else I have seen. Most of that crap is not something that can be controlled by the bus driver or transit agency because it often comes from other passengers.

Here's a small sample of what happens on a regular basis for me (approximately once or twice every ten days) on public transit:

• When boarding a bus, a passenger will say audibly, "Great, a wheelchair on my bus." Some will shake their heads at me instead. I'm not blind or deaf...
  
• While waiting for an elevator at a SkyTrain station, one person will express their displeasure at having to share it with a wheelchair user. Some of those people will physically cut in front to prevent it.
  
• For some odd reason, when I board a SkyTrain, some people are not happy about it. I have seen people swear under their breaths at the sight of me. Strangely, getting off never causes an issue.
  
• People hate giving up their priority seats on the bus, even for those who do not need it. Just ask this athletic guy. I could understand if they were elderly or have disabilities as well, but young and muscular athletic-looking people?
  
• Wheelchair users are often the scapegoat if the bus is late. This is true even if you boarded at the very first stop, during a layover WELL BEFORE it was about to leave. I have heard people who get upset at the bus being late saying, "It's because of the wheelchair" to their fellow passengers before – MANY times.
  
• Threats. For a variety of reasons: "making" someone late, or having to "make" someone move from a priority seat, or completely random reasons.
  

Bear in mind not all of these are guaranteed to happen, but at least one of them will likely happen during the next ten days.

Some may see this as "whining" but I do not particularly care because in society, every time someone with a disability points out a problem like this, they are immediately labeled as "whiners" – so it is nothing new.

But reading the above incidents (which occur regularly), don't you think I have a right to whine? There is no other group on public transit that receives the brunt of this abuse more than people with disabilities – not people with baby strollers, not people with bikes, not elderly people, not kids.

Unfortunately able-bodied people do not understand that and sometimes I fear they never will.

When I write something that upsets people, it is very predictable. There will be two groups: one that is very upset, and one that is in agreement. The former is often the able-bodied transit fans online and the latter is often people with disabilities or disability allies. And this pattern comes up EVERY TIME.

Quite often, someone from the disability community will tell me that it's hopeless to try to "educate" the able-bodied people (who I upset) about disability issues because they simply "will never get it."

I don't believe that. That is why this blog even exists. There needs to be a better understanding and awareness of people with disabilities on public transit, who seem to have a target on their backs simply because they chose the bus, SkyTrain, or SeaBus as their mode of transportation.

This may sound paranoid but think about what kind of situations I listed above. Right now there is very little understanding and quite a lot of hostility – and many the able-bodied people who are part of that do not even know that they are doing it. It is not always their fault but when they refuse to listen or learn more about what goes on, it effectively becomes a social barrier to inclusion.

This post will also upset a lot of people (as I expected with my previous post). I will be called a "whiner." I will likely be sworn at through e-mail (which is on the right, by the way, for the people with legitimate questions). Many people will unfollow me on Twitter. Some will block me.

But this is the cold hard truth. And the truth is never easy to take.

Let the past stay in the past

Recently, some of the old so-called "fishbowl" buses have been making their rounds on the streets of Metro Vancouver. These buses are from a previous era and have since been replaced by newer buses.



A "fishbowl" bus, circa 2006.
(Photo courtesy of BuckyHermit at Flickr.)

As expected with the current "vintage" fad ripping through society right now, many people have a sense of nostalgia for these buses. They represent a time when transit was the good old neighborhood service that was reliable, uncrowded and friendly. There are some who dislike the current low-floor buses right now. I get that.

But I have a problem with people advocating for the FULL-TIME return of these buses. As well, I can't help but feel a bit insulted when I see something like this.

While I realize the purpose of this is not to offend, it unfortunately does so. The reason for this is not because of the wording but the purpose behind it. The "fishbowl" buses' biggest sore spot is its lack of wheelchair accessibility due to their high-floor design (and of course, high-floor buses are noted for being notoriously inaccessible or having very clumsy wheelchair access).

By advocating for the return of those buses, it feels like people are looking to step backwards and undo the great progress that public transit has made in wheelchair accessibility. In other words, it feels like people are in favor of discrimination against people with disabilities just for the sake of nostalgia.

This feeling was also sparked by an incident recently that I encountered. There was a person (who I shall not name) who was VERY strongly in favor of bringing back all the obsolete high-floor buses. I informed him that unless they figure out how to make them more wheelchair accessible, that move would be a disaster.

His response? "Make a separate bus for wheelchair users [much like HandyDart]."

It's unfortunate how many people think that is a solution. There are several reasons why that would not work:

1. That move encourages segregating people due to disability. We are not a third world country. It also violates a very vital part of the disability rights movement – the ability to be integrated (rather than segregated) from mainstream society. There are many times when I feel thankful my friends can join me for a simple bus ride to the mall instead of them having to ride separately.
   
2. Handy Dart (Vancouver's paratransit service) has to be booked well ahead of time. For healthy young people with disabilities, this can restrict your access. No spontaneous trips to the mall for you!
   
3. Handy Dart is often not point A to point B like fixed bus routes. That means you could be taking the scenic route to pick up a few more passengers (and load them, one by one) before you actually start heading to your destination.
   
4. The cost per passenger of running Handy Dart is much higher than the cost of passenger using conventional transit. More passengers on Handy Dart means a bigger financial strain on the already cash-strapped system.
   
5. The British Columbia disability transit pass (which costs $45/year) cannot be used on Handy Dart, which only accepts regular fares for a service that gives you much more restrictions than an able-bodied person using conventional transit. If you were able-bodied, would YOU choose that method?

Yes, I realize and understand that there is nostalgia for "fishbowl" buses. I am not against honoring and recognizing the past; in fact, it is extremely cool to do so. However, there is a reason why it is in the past and why we have moved on from it. Returning to the past is not always the smartest move. (Added note: I am specifically targeting those people who are making the suggestion of bringing back all inaccessible buses. I am NOT against preserving history or display it, but rather against the FULL-TIME return of high-floor buses, especially the "fishbowl" buses. There was a lot of anger because of this misunderstanding.)

Wheelchairs don't affect hearing

A common phrase that parents say to their kids is, "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

I have a new phrase I would like to propose: "If you want to say something bad about someone, don't pretend that person is deaf."

Today, I was waiting for a Vancouver-bound bus at Park Royal in West Vancouver. Since it is summertime, there were a lot of young people at the stop who were enjoying their freedom from school. There was a group of teen boys nearby; one of the boys had an injured ankle and was using crutches.

Since the Park Royal stop is a bit narrow and it is difficult for bus drivers to be able to see wheelchair-using passengers through the crowd, I decided to head towards the bus stop pole. I passed by this group. They didn't seem to notice me at first. But then they did, and what I heard next was simply astounding.

One of the teenagers said, "I hate it when a wheelchair has to get on the bus."

The teenager with the crutches said, "I know. They're a bunch of assholes. I've been in a wheelchair before. It's not that bad. They're just making it seem worse than it is."

And they did this about two metres from me, in plain earshot. They did not even try to hide what they were talking about -- no lowering their volumes or speaking in hushed voices. It was blunt and direct, and offensive in the worst way possible.

This reminds me so much of some of the tweets I see on Twitter over and over again, every single week:

Why wheelchair ppl only wanna get on da bus when im late son..wheel yaself to ya destinationless than a minute ago via twidroyd Favorite Retweet ReplyDaddy Grandd
BRANDiGNORANT

Idk why people in a wheelchair get on the bus I mean they can drive themselves wherever they need to goless than a minute ago via Twitter for BlackBerry® Favorite Retweet Replytiffanie rivera
prettyful_tiff

Anytime I'm running late the person in the wheelchair want to get on my bus. Roll ya ass to where u need to go !less than a minute ago via Tweetlogix Favorite Retweet ReplyBelle Starr 
LouLou_Star

Every time I do a search on Twitter looking for content to re-tweet, I come across these all the time. Actually, I could care less about these people because they obviously do not have the reasoning skills to think about what wheelchair users go through. But if you have these kind of thoughts, keep them to yourself. Do not go around saying these things out loud, especially in front of the person you are talking about who has normal hearing.

That teenager has ZERO idea what it is like, yet he not only runs his mouth but also belittles people with disabilities. He obviously has no idea how to treat his fellow human beings. By the looks of it, he is nearing the final years of high school. It is time for him to grow up and be more mature.

Access Awareness Day, bus stop accessibility

This is almost a double-post; the first part will talk about Access Awareness Day, after which I will segway into accessibility of bus stops.

This past Saturday, June 4 was TransLink's Access Awareness Day. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the festivities on Saturday due to a sledge hockey lesson (in which I managed to destroy part of the ice by digging a 2-cm rut into it -- oops!) but on Wednesday there was an event at Metrotown that I was able to attend.

For those who missed it, it was basically an event that focused on accessibility awareness. It was a day that provided the opportunity to able-bodied people to experience what it is like to use a public transit vehicle with a mobility aid; a scooter and a manual wheelchair were available for those who wanted to try.

So naturally, I had to drag my friend to the event to torture him a little. He was lucky that the bus on hand was a NovaBus, which has a better layout than other buses like the New Flyers. Even so, it was interesting to see how long it took him to get on and off the bus, without hitting anything. TransLink also took along an empty baby stroller to use to demonstrate real life situations -- so not hitting anything is a major key here, unless you want to end up with an injured (albeit imaginary) baby!

While it was an informative day for those with no experience using a wheelchair, I learned something new as well -- trying to navigate on board using a scooter. I had tried power wheelchairs before but never a scooter. Surprisingly, I did not hit a single thing getting on or off the bus. Skills, dudes. Skills!

After meeting some TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company personnel such as Jim (from transition and quality assurance) and Andrea (a training instructor from Vancouver Transit Centre), I got to meet Robert, who currently runs The Buzzer Blog. He got a long jealous stare from me, as he currently has one of my dream jobs. (Sorry, Robert!)

One thing that I wish I had joined earlier was the Access Transit committee of TransLink. Why I never joined is beyond me, but it's interesting to see who is advocating for what in our public transit system as well as what kind of improvements (and "whoopsie"s) have been made or are in the works. For those who are interested in this sort of thing, it's definitely something that's worth looking into.

One of the things that entered the discussion is the fact that while the bus fleet and TransLink-owned infrastructure have been made more accessible in recent years, there are still some nagging issues such as accessible bus stops.

Some examples of bus stop problems are narrow sidewalks (without adequate room for deploying ramps) and locations of bus stops (it may be surrounded by hazards for those with mobility impairments). There are more examples but those are the biggest ones.

Having a committee of transit riders with mobility impairments helps drastically because there are things that nobody else would think about. Here are some real-life examples I've encountered:

West 49th Avenue [eastbound] at Montgomery Street, Vancouver
The bus stop is fine. It has tons of room, it is on a manageable slope, it is clear of a lot of hazards. However, it is "stranded" -- there are no curb cuts for the sidewalk leading to the stop itself. Thus, it remains inaccessible no matter what TransLink does.

King Edward Avenue [westbound] at Marguerite Street, Vancouver
The bus stop is deemed "accessible" but a tree blocks access to the bus shelter. The other end is clear but it requires that you wheel through the dirt. (This stop may have been fixed since then.)

West Broadway [eastbound] at Macdonald Street, Vancouver
This stop is a bit of a sore spot, especially since it serves the busy 99 B-Line. It is accessible but only if the driver knows the trick to it (and as a passenger, sometimes it is necessary to tell the driver what the trick is). For it to work, the driver must line up the front door so it doesn't result in the wheelchair user either crashing into the bus shelter or the nearby tree -- there is a small gap between the two that I usually squeeze through. That gap is not too big and I'd imagine for people with larger power wheelchairs or scooters, they'd need to get off a few metres ahead of the stop.

Railway Avenue [southbound], Richmond
This one baffles me. Northbound is fine because there is a sidewalk, but there is no sidewalk or anything of the sort going southbound. This is something the City of Richmond may need to figure out, because trying to get off the bus in a wheelchair along that stretch is a bit of a thrill ride.

West 49th Avenue [both ways] at West Boulevard, Vancouver
If you are heading to this stop from the east or the north, it's no big deal. But if you're heading in from the west or the south, then it's a chore because that's the only nearby accessible stop -- and it requires you to push your way uphill. Terrain, while not a big deal to most people, can be an obstacle to those who use manual wheelchairs (such as myself) or other manual mobility aids. Basically, you will need to exert a huge amount of energy to use one bus stop even if there's another one five feet away. A lot of this has to do with the sidewalks being too narrow; hopefully there's a solution to this.

I think I'm done ranting. Those are only several examples I've seen. Notice how none of these are rural examples but rather urban and suburban ones. I think when people start to look carefully at these little things, Vancouver can be made even more accessible than it is right now; this city has made huge strides but its job is far from being done and nobody should feel completely satisfied at the present situation just yet.

It's very likely that I'm going to look into getting involved with the Access Transit committee; let's see if we can get the ball rolling on making the system welcoming for everyone.

Bus pass-ups

On Saturday's edition of the Vancouver Sun, the cover story was about how often buses pass up passengers in the TransLink system. For the most part, it was surprising to no one which routes were impacted the most. But for passengers with mobility impairments, it can be an even bigger challenge.

Us wheelchair users have the biggest challenge. Most people can "squeeze on" a bus as long as there is room but wheelchair users cannot do that for obvious reasons. Even if we could "fit" on the bus, the space needed to merely park ourselves is simply not there. This results in wheelchair users getting passed up at the same stops where able-bodied people (or people without wheeled mobility devices) are able to get on.

The most annoying corridor for me is the #99 B-Line one. That route is busy at the best of times, so unless you board at Broadway-Commercial Station or at UBC Loop, sometimes whether you get on or not depends solely on luck. The lucky thing with that corridor is that sometimes you can take the #9 bus instead but if you're in a hurry, that can be a problem.

However, not all routes are so lucky to have an alternate route servicing the same corridor (of which many people are painfully aware).

TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company launched a campaign a while ago promoting accessible transit. It's nice that they are aware of this growing need but sometimes I look at the problems they already have. Their infrastructure for passengers with disabilities has improved over the years but the crushing passenger demands are making this campaign rather difficult to implement to its full potential.

Small potatoes

On Twitter tonight, I did something that I normally don't do -- search something on Twitter just for the hell of it. And since this blog needs some new material, I decided to try to find some ideas using this method.

There are some very interesting tweets out there, but one common theme struck me: people complaining about how buses loading wheelchair users are making them late or delaying their trip.

I can understand their frustration because I need to get to places too. Wheelchair users don't want to take forever in getting from point A to B either. Personally, I try to take no more than 90 seconds loading on to a bus, and even faster getting OFF the bus.

But those people need to remember one thing -- their complaints about being late and whatnot are small potatoes compared to what we have to go through. I don't want to sound like a whiner and would like to avoid that as much as possible, but it's true.

There are some very obvious things that come to mind, such as walking on board not being a viable option. (Who know?) However, if people knew about the OTHER everyday factors that arise in using public transit, their complaints would seem a bit laughable.

Here are some of the common obstacles in using public transit systems if you're in a wheelchair:

Accessibility of bus stops

In most public transit systems I've been to, not all bus stops are deemed "accessible." There are many reasons for this, but the most common one is because there is not enough space at the stop to deploy a ramp. The sidewalk may be too narrow. The house's fence may be too close to the road. Perhaps a bus stop shelter is in the way. Whatever the reason, it would be dangerous or impossible for the stop to be used by a wheelchair user, so we cannot use it.

When that happens, we have to find the next bus stop, which might be quite far away. It would take a much longer time for us to reach such a stop than an able-bodied person just using the inaccessible stop. For my area, had my nearest stop not been accessible, I would have had to use one that is over a half-kilometre away. That can make for tired and cramped arms.

Strangely enough, there are many stops deemed "accessible" even though they are on a significant slope. Oak Street southbound at Broadway in Vancouver is one such example. If I recall, the stop at Cambie Street northbound at Broadway is like that too. And Granville Street northbound at Broadway is also challenging.

Geographical factors

Some things are uncontrollable. Geographical factors such as terrain and slope grade can be an obstacle that cannot be fixed. Regarding the last point about accessible stops, sometimes the nearest accessible stop is uphill.

One example I found was near Arbutus Street in Vancouver, where the bus stop on even terrain was inaccessible and the closest one was uphill on a slope. (I can't explain the logic of that either.)

While I was going uphill towards that stop, I was passed by some people while going uphill since it was slow going. One of them ended up waiting at the same bus stop, but she got there three to five minutes before me.

Even in an area with accessible stops throughout, the simple problem of terrain can turn a seemingly short distance into a time-consuming challenge.

Mechanical factors

This is almost exclusive to SkyTrain. As the name suggests, elevators are a necessity on this elevated system. A lot of these elevators are slow as molasses. (It is probably for safety reasons -- we don't want any fragile senior citizens experiencing exhilarating G-forces, do we?)

As a result, the time it takes for an able-bodied person to go from the train platform to, let's say, the bus loop is much shorter than for a wheelchair user to go from the platform to the elevator, then from the elevator to the bus loop. Able-bodied people would likely have a five-minute time advantage.

Elevators also have a tendency to break down, which can sometimes mean that the wheelchair user must get back on the SkyTrain, continue to the next station, and go from there (whether it be by taking another bus or two... or three...).

Imagine if one of the able-bodied complainers had to do that. He/She would explode in rage, I bet.

Stupidity of humans

This is one that can be avoided. Some people just don't get it. They try to board as the driver is activating the wheelchair ramp (and get whacked in the face as a result) or they refuse to vacate the accessible space in a timely fashion. When human stupidity comes in, there is delay and sometimes chaos. You're unhappy about how long it takes for a wheelchair user to board? Perhaps it might be because some people don't bother to understand or follow procedures that can make the process smoother.

SkyTrain crowds

SkyTrain crowds getting off a train and towards the stairs or escalators can sometimes block the path between me and the elevator, and I have to patiently wait until someone frees up a gap to let me cross or, if nobody does so, wait until the crowd thins out. Especially an issue at Broadway-Commercial Station and Lougheed Station. Enough said.

Strangely enough, when everyone is going the same direction like on SeaBus, crowds are not a problem. Weird.

---

These are the obstacles that apply to me, and are not representative of everyone. But the point still stands -- when you add up the delay that these obstacles create, the people who complain about being late because of a wheelchair user needing to board look rather ridiculous. Your delay is ten minutes; ours might be twenty. Your delay is caused by one situation; ours might be caused by five. And so forth.

Of course, if you are absolutely impatient and want to prepare yourself so you won't find yourself stressing over being delayed, here's a simple plan that someone I know came up with, called the "30 Minute Rule."

It's a simple plan that works great for transit. Basically, you plan your commute as if your event will start 30 minutes early. So for example, if you go to school and your class starts at 9:00am, pretend it starts at 8:30am and aim to arrive at 8:30am.

Not only will you be early, but you will have enough time to get settled in and relax. No more frantic rushes to get there on time. Also, if anything unexpected happens (such as a bus breakdown, missed bus connection or sudden weather changes), you can be "late" according to that rule but still be early or on time in actuality.

It's a common sense rule that has worked out in my favour too many times to count. So if you don't have a similar rule in effect, think about changing that so next time, you won't find yourself tweeting about "small potatoes" delays and instead tweeting about how you made it on time.

Why I am glad to see the high-floor buses go

A few weeks ago, photos started popping up on various websites and blogs of the old TransLink-owned New Flyer D40 and D60 buses being dismantled and demolished around Annacis Island. For the uninitiated, these were the high-floor buses that came to the Vancouver area in the early 1990s. Since they came into being, new technology allowed low-floor buses to exist and these new buses, like most other new gadgets, eventually got more love and popularity than the old low-floor buses; today, most of the TransLink bus fleet is of the low-floor variety.

Good riddance.

There are many reasons why I didn't like the high-floor buses. One reason is that they appear to eat up fuel much quicker than their low-floor counterparts; you can tell simply by hearing how hard the engine has to work to move the bus forward a single meter. Another reason is because one of them held me hostage at one point.

It was during my days as a student at UBC. I was on a high-floor bus going up Granville Street towards downtown Vancouver. My plan was to get off at Broadway to switch to a 99 B-Line bus (or a trolley bus if that failed). It was during rush hour, which meant a mixed blessing in Vancouver -- more buses available but also more traffic to contend with.

As most of you are aware, before the Canada Line kicked in, Granville Street at Broadway was one of the most major transit transfer points in Vancouver. So, as evil high-floor buses tend to do, it did something that I really dreaded.

It held me hostage.

What happened? Well, some background information first: high-floor buses offer wheelchair accessibility in the form of a lift, rather than a flip-out ramp like low-floor buses. The lift uses hydraulics, whereas the flip-out ramp is, well, a simple flip-out mechanism. Unlike the lift, the flip-out ramp can be manually flipped out by hand if it is malfunctioning.

So right at the busy bus stop on Granville Street at Broadway, the lift decided to quit. It would stretch out to the sidewalk and go up like it was supposed to, but it wouldn't go down. Wonderful. So on a bus full of commuters during morning rush hour, it froze up like a stage performer caught with his fly open.

The worst part was that I wasn't the only person needing to get off via the lift at that stop; the other passenger needed to get off also. But the lift wasn't moving and the bus wasn't going anywhere. The passengers on the bus were forced to get off and continue their journey on another bus (thankfully the 98 B-Line was still in existence at the time, so they didn't have to wait long) while the other passenger and I were on the bus wondering what to do next.

Another driver, who was off-duty and passing by, came along and the two drivers did everything they could. They kicked at the lift. They fiddled with it. They swore at it. The only thing that they didn't try was make an animal sacrifice to honor the sacred transit god of El Diesel McNovaBus. Eventually a transit supervisor arrived. It seemed like we might have to have the bus towed away or something when the lift suddenly worked!

Of course, it did so after I realized I was going to be massively late for class no matter what.

Did I mention the lift was a stupid pain in the [bleep] piece of [bleep]?

This is the main reason why I stopped trusting high-floor buses. The mechanism for their lifts is pretty complex and if one piece fails, the whole thing might not work. Considering how many moving piece there are, it's easy to see how something might go wrong.

The only vehicles in the TransLink system still using the same lift mechanism are the high-floor Orion V buses that operate on Highway 99 to Delta, South Surrey and White Rock. Those buses are much newer but I hope they don't run into the same problems. (Community shuttles have lifts too but it appears to be a different mechanism.)

Good bye, D40 and D60 high-floors. May your lifts actually work in the afterlife, so I can actually get around there too.