Yellowknife (Nov 12/04) - The NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities is calling on City Hall to provide more inclusive transportation services.

The group went to City Hall Monday night with next year's budget in mind. They say it's unacceptable for a city this size not to have suitable transportation for the disabled.

Yellowknife resident Cornelius Van Dyke told city council Monday that disabled people living on fixed incomes can't afford to use cabs all the time and public transportation should be available to everyone. - Mike W. Bryant/NNSL photo

Cornelius Van Dyke, seated in his wheelchair, told city council that most disabled people live on a fixed income and can't afford to get around town by cab.

Currently, the only wheelchair-friendly ride in town is provided by City Cab No. 99, said Van Dyke, but it costs $6 just to have it summoned to one's door. A round-trip on a city bus, meanwhile, is $4.

There is a wheelchair-accessible van, available to seniors living at Aven Manor, but it is privately owned and not available to the public.

"Would you be willing to pay $30 every time you go shopping? Van Dyke asked the councillors.

"How many of you live paycheque to paycheque?"

Council of Persons with Disabilities executive director, Cecily Hewitt, pointed to a city public works report from 2003 that recommended they implement a shuttle service for people with disabilities.

She estimates that there are about 160 people in Yellowknife who would use the service regularly if it were implemented.

City council briefly entertained the idea of including a wheelchair-accessible service in last year's budget but it didn't make it past the discussion phase.

"We would like to see the city provide accessible transportation, however they go about it is entirely up to them," said Hewitt.

She suggested they ask the city's bus service provider, Cardinal Coachlines, to purchase a "handy-bus" and then subsidize the cost of that purchase.

"One of the things that makes the most sense would be to include it into the contract with whoever it is," said Hewitt.

She said her group owned and operated a handy-van back in the 1980s, but they had to shelve the service when costs grew too burdensome. Hewitt said it cost the group about $180,000 a year to run.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem wouldn't make any promises for next year but said the city is prepared to seek out a solution.

One unlikely option, said Van Tighem, would be to purchase a hydraulically-powered handy-bus. Not only are they expensive, they are also unsuitable for Yellowknife's extreme cold temperatures and icy streets, he said.

He said a solution may lie in a federal government proposal to give municipalities their share of the tax on gasoline. He said the additional revenue may go a long way towards funding wheelchair-accessible public transportation. "The big city mayors have been talking with the federal government in regards to the fuel tax rebate," said Van Tighem.

"They have been using public transportation as one of their main needs."