One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
Zerihun Alemu has been an accessible cab driver with Beck Taxi since 2015. He says he paid out of pocket to convert his van to be accessible, which included adding a ramp.
Alemu says he made the investment because he wanted to help people with disabilities, and he thought providing accessible and regular taxi service would help business.
But Alemu’s vehicle is about to age past the city’s standards and he says he can’t afford to continue his service. He spent about $50,000 on the accessible vehicle in 2015, but it would cost about $130,000 now, he says.
“The maintenance cost is too much,” he told CBC Toronto. “I feel sorry for the customers.”
And he’s not the only one. Many drivers who once had accessible vehicles are also deciding not to get new vehicles for financial reasons, according to Kristine Hubbard, the company’s operations manager.
Beck Taxi once had a fleet of 200 accessible cabs, says Hubbard, but now that number is down to 50. And after March 31, when most of the vehicles officially expire past the city’s age limit, there will only be three left, she says.
Hubbard said other taxi dispatch companies are facing similar shortfalls of on-demand accessible vehicles. CBC reached out to Diamond Taxi and Co-op Cabs for comment but did not receive a reply.
Hubbard said taxi companies are responsible for dispatch while the city is in charge of overseeing the taxi industry, including regulating and licencing vehicles. Licenced taxi drivers are responsible for vehicle costs, including converting them to be accessible, she said.
City program for newly-registered vehicles falls short: company
Hubbard says the city is offering little help and has no long-term plan.
“They’ve turned their backs on that community and the community of taxi drivers who have lost everything waiting for a plan and now they’ll be out of business,” she said.
“The drivers have lost all trust in our regulator and in our council, and customers now will be stranded.”
She said she would like to see the city make more investments into accessible taxis and set up a centralized call centre so customers don’t have to call multiple companies to see who has an accessible vehicle available.
Last year, the city amended a bylaw to increase the lifespan of accessible taxis from seven years to 10 years, according to a statement from city spokesperson Jas Baweja.
As the city’s demand for accessible cabs rises, Beck Taxi and disability advocates are calling for more support. CBC’s Talia Ricci has more on the long-term solutions needed.
The city saw 147 new accessible cabs registered last year, according to the statement, though 103 of these vehicles are part of the TTC’s Wheel-Trans program.
Taxi owners can apply for grants or a one-time payment of $25,000 dollars to cover the cost of making a vehicle accessible, Baweja said in the statement. The one-time payment was introduced in January, and is only available for vehicles registered in 2025.
“The city is committed to ensuring the availability of on-demand accessible Vehicle-for-Hire service to meet the needs of people with mobility disabilities,” Baweja said in the statement.
Hubbard says only a couple of Beck’s vehicles may qualify for the payment and the money doesn’t cover the total costs of converting the vehicles.
“Nothing has changed in terms of any kind of plan,” she said.
Lack of accessible cabs breaches accessibility act: advocates
Luke Anderson, a powerchair user himself and the executive director of StopGap Foundation, a charity that works to reduce physical barriers to people with disabilities, said it’s already challenging to find reliable accessible transportation in the city.
“There is a serious lack of accessible, on-demand options out there,” he said.
He said the shortfall of accessible ground transportation options goes against the province’s commitment in the Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act (AODA) to be fully accessible by 2025.
Customer service standards under the AODA say service providers must make effort to ensure that “persons with disabilities must be given an opportunity equal to that given to others to obtain, use and benefit from the goods, services or facilities.”
He told CBC News he’s had Uber drivers cancel pre-booked trips only for taxi services to also be unavailable. Anderson said in these situations, he’ll take the streetcar, but that may not be an option for others with disabilities.
“It’s not fair. It’s not an equitable service,” he said.
Other municipalities, like Ottawa and Kingston have improved support for accessible taxis by implementing programs like a centralized call centre and per-trip fees, according to Marc Andre Way, president of the Canadian Taxi Association.
WheelTrans was instructed by the TTC board last September to work with the city on what it might take to centralize dispatch like that in Toronto, city spokesperson Jas Baweja told CBC Toronto via email.
The work is ongoing, said Baweja, who also noted Toronto’s accessible taxis “are not subject to the per trip accessibility fund program regulatory charge” that applies to private companies.
“The problem that exists in Toronto is that they’ve not turned their minds towards finding a system that will be helpful to the brokers, helpful to the drivers and in due course, offer better service to those that need it,” he said.
Andre Way said if the number of accessible cabs drops too low, there could be a case for a class-action lawsuit against the city.
“The AODA, is quite clear: If your wait time on a taxi is 15 minutes, your wait time for an accessible taxi should be exactly the same,” he said.
Baweja declined to comment on “potential litigation,” but said in an email that the city is “increasing incentives for those providing accessible taxicab services.”
