Cindy MacDougall
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Mar 01/00) - A Yellowknife man challenged city council to make Yellowknife's buses easier to use for disabled riders.

"This is restricting people's right to move within the city. It's a human right and it's being denied," said Andre Boulanger, whose wife is disabled. She has trouble climbing stairs and suffers from a speech impairment.

Boulanger's concerns with public transit stem from an incident this fall. His wife, unable to climb the steep stairs of the city's current school-style buses, asked for help from the bus driver.

"The guy said 'I don't have time for this,' and he split," said Boulanger.

He urged council to make sure the four new buses arriving this spring are accessible.

"I know you are buying new buses," he said. "If you're going to do this, don't do it (poorly)."

Mayor David Lovell said the city had spoken to Cardinal Coachlines, the bus contractor, about refusing service.

"The conversation has been had. It won't happen again," he said.

As for the four new buses, Coun. Bob Brooks said they've already been chosen, and are not the more accessible types low to the ground.

"We couldn't afford the accessible buses. They cost about two and a half times more than the models we're getting," he said.

"And we didn't want buses that are low to the ground. With our roads, and the heaving, they might bottom out."

Brooks said the city has sent copies of the buses' blue prints to the NWT Council for Disabled Persons. He said the council may have suggestions to make the buses easier to use.

"There may be a simple solution to this, such as an extra flip-down step. We can fix this with a couple of hundred bucks."

Coun. Kevin O'Reilly said city hall has to consult more often with the disability council when designing services such as public transit.