Paraplegic woman says she was left stranded when no accessible cabs were available

The City of Hamilton has 16 cabs that are specially licensed to take passengers who need extra accessibility and now the city is more than doubling that number. One Hamilton paraplegic says the extra capacity can’t come soon enough. On the weekend she was stranded outside with her son and couldn’t get a ride home.

Darlene Jackson has had to make a lot of adjustments to her life since she was rear ended on her motorcycle eight years ago. Her spinal cord was severed and she was almost decapitated. She’s lucky to be alive, but sometimes she doesn’t feel that way.

“I’ve been in the hospital over 30 times. I almost died several times.”

Typically Jackson will get around in her adapted van, but right now the electronics are broken and she needs help opening the door and lowering the ramp. Last weekend was a family BBQ. Jackson called Blue Line Taxi to see if they could get there and back with her son. She got there ok, but at 8:30pm, she couldn’t get home.

“When I called back they said there was no cabs available to pick me up to drive me home, so they left me stranded.”

She says Blue Line tried unsuccessfully to help

“All the drivers went home for the night. I could not be picked up and there was nothing they could do.”

“We’re just the call centre. They’re not our employees. We can’t order them around. They can only work so many hours. They take vacation, their cars break down.”

Blue Line owner Anthony Rizzuto says service for the mobility-challenged was better when he had a six-car fleet just for that purpose.

“The city decided we were operating illegally, and decided to issue accessible taxi licenses instead.”

Accessible taxi licences were offered to those who had been waiting for taxi licences- like Steve Jones. He got on the list in 1981 and got the licence in 2013. Accessible taxis can also be used for able-bodied fares. He says sometimes the drivers prefer that.

It also takes longer to move someone who needs help with a wheelchair. Jones’ accessible taxi has been sitting for almost a month but he finally found a driver. Someone willing to do more than drive.

City of Hamilton licencing department is in the process of issuing 18 new accessible taxi licences.

There is a report going to council that recommends a financial bonus for drivers who take accessible fares to subsidize the extra time and effort they spend. The report also suggests helping pay for the expensive upgrades a vehicle needs to be wheelchair friendly.