Lack of late-night accessible transportation options has this man singing the blues

John Travers loves attending and promoting shows of local artists in London's music scene. The 48-year-old can often be found at various concert venues around the city on weekends. 

However, getting back home from these events has become a frustrating challenge for Travers, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair. The only ride options he has are Voyago Paratransit or accessible taxis, he said.

Voyago only runs until midnight and a requires that bookings be made three days in advance with no guarantees of getting a desired time slot. Taxis work on a first-come, first-serve basis, with very few accessible vehicles, and only operate until the early evening, he said. 

With limited accessible transit options available to him during late night hours, Travers feels like he's being held back from enjoying his favourite activities because he has no reliable mode of transportation to get to and from places, he told CBC News. 

"I should be able to go out whenever I need to just like anybody else. Disabled or not, nobody should be restricted from going where they want," he said. "This is ridiculous and it's not okay."

The final straw for Travers was last month, when he was out on a weekend night and booked a cab through Green Taxi for a 1:30 a.m. pickup from a bar. He says he was left stranded since his ride never showed up, so he had to call a friend to come get him.  

Green Taxi's general manager Huruy Woldemicael acknowledged that they failed to meet Traver's needs in this situation, but said the company does its best fulfil every booking and prioritizes accessible ones.

Woldemicael said the company's struggling to keep its wheelchair vans due to increasing demands and rising costs of purchase and maintenance.

"When we first started in 2016, we had 10 vans and now we're only down to four," he said, adding that only one wheelchair van runs overnight. 

The private company's drivers are self-employed and set their own working hours, Woldemicael said. Finding shift drivers is a challenge for many reasons including drivers needing to pay a fee in order to get their accessible taxi license, and less demand between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., he said.

People with disabilities feel isolated: advocate

The lack of transportation is excludes people with disabilities from engaging with the rest of their community, said Ashton Forrest, an accessibility advocate who uses a mobility scooter.

"To be able to go to a concert shouldn't have to be a big deal. People in the disability community want the same freedom and flexibility that our able-members of society have to enjoy things that London has to offer, regardless of what time of the day it happens," she said.

"Recognizing that we're this [UNESCO] music city, there's going to be events that are happening late at night, how do we get people around to them?"

Forrest believes these instances set a bad example of inclusiveness, and instead, isolates people with disabilities. She would like to see the city and transit services take more responsibility for this, Forrest said. 

"Many people in the disability community do like to go concerts and support local artists but the ones able to stay out late have access to help," she said. "Not all of us do and we shouldn't be relying on the generosity of a few to give us rides around."

Travers wants to see transportation services be made available to everyone at all times of the day. He believes this can be done by city buses running late at night and increasing the number of wheelchair taxis that companies have, he said. 

"If a regular person can get a cab, why can't I? This is a huge problem and it needs to be fixed. Not a year from now, but right now," Travers said.