{"id":538,"date":"2019-02-01T23:23:41","date_gmt":"2019-02-01T23:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/?p=538"},"modified":"2019-02-01T23:23:41","modified_gmt":"2019-02-01T23:23:41","slug":"discriminatory-customer-service-on-b-c-transit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/discriminatory-customer-service-on-b-c-transit\/","title":{"rendered":"Discriminatory Customer Service on B.C. Transit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\nhave used mobility aids for over fifteen years. I have been using the transit\nsystem just as long. I have experienced a lot of discrimination as a passenger\nwith a disability, I even founded my organization, Citizens for Accessible\nNeighbourhoods, in 2005 because of customer service issues with transit in\nMetro Vancouver. Today, I had one of the worst experiences ever. I had taken a\nbus from the ferry to downtown Victoria where I was catching a bus to Esquimalt.\nI was waiting at the bus stop and, as the bus was the second in the bay, it pulled\nup behind another bus. I was standing just off to the right of the front door\nof the bus and I said to the driver \u201cI need the ramp\u201d. She waved her hand and\nsaid \u201cpole\u201d. I repeated that I needed the ramp so she deployed the ramp without\nmoving and, as predicted, the ramp was an inch from the light pole. I said I\ncouldn\u2019t use it there, I couldn\u2019t get over the lips on the side of the ramp. I\nsaid that she needed to move the bus forward. I should not have been forced\ninto instructing her. She glared at me and moved the bus forward, passing me\nwhere it was accessible, making myself and the growing crowd around me move forward.\nShe deployed the ramp and I boarded. Frankly, it was humiliating having to\nadvocate for accessibility as a growing crowd of people pushed on me and wanted\nto board, several people did offer words of comfort to me about the driver\nneeding to do her job and why was she making it so difficult, but even with those\nthoughtful comments, the driver was making a sideshow out of what should have\nbeen a normal procedure. Finally I boarded the bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nwe approached my stop, I stood up and moved to the front of the bus and the\ndriver just sat there. I said \u201cI need the ramp\u201d and she reluctantly deployed it.\nAs it was deploying, I said \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have to fight so hard to use the ramp\u201d\nand she stopped the ramp halfway and just sat there. I was exhausted at this\npoint and, honestly, extremely frustrated and angry and I didn\u2019t want to say\nanything I would regret so I simply said \u201cplease deploy the ramp\u201d and she did. As\nI was exiting the bus, her power play bothered me, it was so unnecessary of her\nto stop the deployment of the ramp as if she were going to trap me in the bus\nfor speaking up for myself (and other passengers with disabilities). I said \u201ca\npassenger shouldn\u2019t have to fight to get the ramp deployed\u201d and she said she didn\u2019t\nknow I needed it. I said I told her I needed it. She then said that \u201cthe ramps\nweren\u2019t made for you, they were made for wheelchairs\u201d. I replied that they are\nthere for anyone who needs them and they shouldn\u2019t have to fight for that\nright, they should ask and get the ramp deployed. She disagreed. I realized\nthat no matter what I said she wasn\u2019t going to change her mind so I continued\non.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nBC Transit driver completely devalued me, she acted as if I was an aggravation and she\u2019d only deal with me if forced. It was absolutely unacceptable\nand discriminatory service. There are people with disabilities who experience this\ntype of rudeness and unwillingness to give them access to a service that is quite\nliterally built into the bus, and never want to use transit again; I know\nbecause my organization receives calls and emails from concerned family and\nfriends asking how to encourage them to try again. It is truly disheartening to\nsee the same issues present in today\u2019s transit system that were happening when\nI founded my organization fourteen years ago. It truly bothers me, and it\nshould bother BC Transit, that there still drivers who demean and demoralize\npassengers with disabilities. Nobody who needs accessibility should have to\nfight for it. No one with a walker, who is unable to lift the walker onto the\nbus, should have to hear that the ramp is not for them and be told it is only\nfor people with wheelchairs. No person should feel invalidated and minimized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nexpect BC Transit to make sure this employee knows that discriminating against\ncustomers on the basis of disability (or any other identity) is unacceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also expect that BC Transit will back up the talk with the driver by sending out a notice to all bus drivers reinforcing the right that if a passenger with disability (with or without a mobility aid) says they need the ramp, the ramp should be deployed. There should be no argument, there should be no shaming. and there should definitely not be service that makes them feel like they are a burden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image of person with walker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have used mobility aids for over fifteen years. I have been using the transit system just as long. I have experienced a lot of discrimination as a passenger with a disability, I even founded my organization, Citizens for Accessible Neighbourhoods, in 2005 because of customer service issues with transit in Metro Vancouver. Today, I\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4glPx-8G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}