City committee votes to make Winnipeg's accessible vehicle program permanent
Advocate worries changes to incentives for drivers could undercut program's success
A pilot project to reduce wait times for Winnipeggers who need accessible vehicles for hire has taken another step toward becoming permanent, but one advocate worries a change to incentives for drivers could undermine the program's success.
On Wednesday, city council's public works committee voted to approve a report that recommended continuing the Winnipeg wheelchair accessible vehicle program, or Winnipeg WAV, which started as a pilot project two years ago. It was scheduled to end on Dec. 31.
The report released last week said prior to the launch of the program, riders could face wait times up to two hours for an accessible vehicle, but are now getting picked up within 20 minutes of their requested time in more than 90 per cent of cases.
The city collaborated with taxi companies, including Duffy's Taxi and Unicity, and the Independent Living Resource Centre to train drivers and offer them incentives to provide accessible rides.
Currently, taxi companies, limousines and ride-hailing services like Uber pay a seven-cent surcharge on all trips, but that amount drops to zero if at least 10 per cent of their rides are in accessible vehicles.
In the report, Grant Heather, the city's vehicles-for-hire manager, recommends changing the fee structure.
Ride-hailing services such as Uber, which have virtually no accessible vehicles in their fleet, would see their surcharge increase to 10 cents. Limo companies would still pay the seven-cent fee, while taxi companies, which provide nearly all of the accessible rides, would pay a three-cent fee, with no exemption.
Patrick Stewart, a consultant with the Independent Living Resource Centre, told the committee that change could lead to fewer accessible taxis on the road.
"I think it would be fair to say that I have received concerns from the industry about the change, and that if companies are de-incentivized to reach that 10 per cent, that we might see a rollback of accessible vehicles on the road," he said.
Speaking to the committee after Stewart's presentation, Heather suggested the fee could be changed to revert back to seven cents if a company fell below the threshold for accessible rides.
Committee chair Coun. Janice Lukes told CBC the city will monitor the number of accessible vehicles providing trips.
"If people don't have incentives and they're not upgrading as the fleet grows and then it falls below 10 per cent, then they may look at [changing] the fee rate so that they can provide incentives," she said.
The accessible vehicle program has also served as a backup when Transit Plus, the city's door-to-door transportation system for people with disabilities, is booked up.
Although changes to the Transit Plus software introduced in June meant that no rides were diverted to the accessible vehicle program in July or August, Stewart suggested the city should consider harmonizing standards between the two services.
While Transit Plus drivers help passengers from the door of their pickup location and into their destination, accessible vehicle drivers are only required to provide service from curb-to-curb.
Stewart said passengers who are familiar with one service sometimes get confused when using the other.
Heather said Transit Plus has informed users about the differences between the services, and vehicle-for-hire drivers have incentives to go the extra mile.
"As they deliver Transit Plus Trips, there's a lot of drivers who … recognize that they are getting customer service incentives, they are being rated [by passengers], and there's an opportunity for them to make more money," he said.
The proposal to make the accessible vehicle program permanent still needs approval from city council.
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