SIXTH MEETING OF THE
ADVISORY
COMMITTEE ON ACCESSIBILITY
TOWN
OF
Ontario
Room
Members Regrets
Robert Hunn (Chair) none
Vito Bigioni (Vice-Chair)
William Broger
Sherry Setnyk
Connie Weber
Carole Robertson
Dr. John White
Mike Kowalski
Leila Abboud
Regional Councillor Jack Heath
Yvonne Hurst, Committee Clerk
The meeting convened at the hour of
1. MINUTES
OF SIXTH
THE TOWN OF
THAT the minutes of the Town of
CARRIED.
Issues Emanating
from the June 15 Minutes:
City of
Sherry Setnyk advised that the City of
Mike Kowalski and Sherry Setnyk volunteered to sit on a
sub-committee to deal with the issue of a possible Accessibility Award for the
Town of
Accessibility
Update – Gil Verbeek
It
was noted that Mr. Gil Verbeek was invited to the September meeting. Mr.
Verbeek
indicated that there was no new information to provide to the Committee.
In
light of the fact that there are three new members on the Committee, Mr.Verbeek
will
be invited to attend a future meeting to update these new members on current
projects.
The Committee were not aware of having reviewed expansion plans for
the Museum. It was noted that the plans
were reviewed in 2002, however, the project was delayed until 2005.
2. WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
Robert Hunn introduced Prescott Harrison, Mike Kowalski and Leila
Abboud and welcomed these new members to the Accessibility Committee.
3.
Mr. Don Gordon, General Manager, York Region Transit provided an
overview of transit services planned for the Region. Mr. Gordon noted that there are two service
delivery formats: conventional
transit and mobility transit. However,
the conventional transit system is continually moving towards increased
accessibility.
Mr. Gordon advised that 70% of the region’s fleet now consists of
low-floor buses. Both VIVA and YRT bus
services on
Mr. Gordon stressed that for persons to ride free they must be
registered with mobility transit. With
regard to the possible use of the CNIB-issued
card in lieu of registration, he
indicated that he would look into the matter and see if a CNIB card would
suffice.
The VIVA transit service will service 4 corridors. Transit will eventually be available to
Mr. Gordon informed the Committee that ridership has been growing
steadily at approximately 12% per year.
Weekdays, the system
carries 55,000 passengers per day and on weekends, 70,000 per day. These
numbers are still behind cities of the same population so it is necessary to
make the system as attractive as possible to entice people to leave their private vehicles at home.
He noted that the mobility
service has also grown significantly. A
program that permits riders to go to specified locations within
With
respect to GO service and VIVA, discussions have been held and the GO service
will be primarily an express service while VIVA and YRT will provide local
services. He noted that access for
wheelchairs on the VIVA system will be through the middle doors. Two positions on the buses are available for
wheelchairs. Another feature of the VIVA
buses will be the announcement of each stop.
The tickets do not include Braille writing, but can be purchased at
80-90 locations throughout York Region
(apart from VIVA vending machines)..
Mr. Gordon displayed a copy of a quarterly newsletter published by York Region Transit and noted
that he would mail copies directly to all Committee members..
The Committee questioned the YRT+
cancellation policy. It was noted
by Mr. Gordon that cancellations
have been sufficiently problematic to require the implementation of a new
policy. It was noted that a proposed 24- hour advance notice booking policy would
help reduce the number of cancellations.
The Committee also expressed concerns with the fact that you can travel
from York Region to
The Committee questioned if the bus from Participation House to
Thornhill was still operational. Mr.
Gordon noted that it is the intention of the Region to shorten the route since
few people use it. The route may be
reconfigured to make it more workable.
However, he noted that persons requiring transit from Participation
House can still book the regular mobility transit service. With respect to a question regarding a
wheelchair attendant, Mr. Gordon noted that a wheelchair attendant does not
have to pay a fare. He further advised
that over 8,000 persons are registered to use mobility transit while only 3,000
actually use the service regularly.
The Committee thanked Mr. Gordon for his update on mobility transit
issues. He offered to return to the
committee on a regular basis to provide up-dates if desired.
4. FULL SERVICE GAS STATIONS
Mr. Robert Hunn, Chair, circulated an article from a recent issue of the Liberal
written by Joan Ransberry. He noted that
he had been approached by Ms. Ransberry with respect to the topic of full-
service gas stations and the lack of these stations throughout the region. He further noted that Markham Council has passed a resolution declaring that that each new gas station be
required to have at least one full- service pump. Since
only a few new stations are approved annually, the issue remains that since the existing self- service stations are not
required to provide a full- service pump,
how could a requirement
for a full- service pump be made
retroactive?. It was suggested that a by-law requiring at
least one full- service pump at all
self-serve stations could be enacted by the Town. If this proves to be a major on-going financial burden for station owners/operators, another
approach would be for existing gas station owner/operators to consider
accessibility issues with respect to their stations.
THE TOWN OF
THAT the Town of Markham Accessibility Committee supports the Town
of Markham’s initiative to require
full-service gas pumps at all new Markham
gas stations to provide
accessibility for persons with mobility
limitations and parents with small children;
AND THAT the Town of
CARRIED.
5. ACCESSIBILITY
AUDIT
Discussion
on the Accessibility Audit and the City of
6. ELECTION OF CHAIR
The Committee concurred that the election of the Chair normally
occurs in the New Year. This matter was
deferred to the January, 2006 meeting of the Committee.
7. COMMUNICATIONS
a)
MHBC Planning Ltd.
The letter from MHBC Planning Ltd.
was received by the Committee. Robert
Hunn, the Chair, indicated that he would discuss this letter with the new staff
person assigned to the Accessibility Committee.
MHBC is a private planning consulting firm that provides a range of
planning services and now offers Accessibility Planning consultative services.
b) Regional Accessibility Meetings
Robert
Hunn, Chair, advised that a breakfast meeting was held in
It
was noted that breakfast meetings are held every two months. It was suggested that the Town of
It
was suggested that the Town of
THE
TOWN OF
THAT Council for the Town of
CARRIED.
c)
Robert
Hunn, Chair, noted that the Town of
d) Coalition of
Robert Hunn, the Chair, advised
that the Coalition of Ontario Accessibility Advisory Committees was formed in
June of this year. The group’s website
is: www.contaac.ca. All members of
e)
Art Gallery of Ontario
Robert Hunn, the Chair, advised
that he visited the Art Gallery of Ontario in August and was disappointed to
note that there is no accessible cubicle in the washrooms and no family
washroom. He has written and suggested
changes to the Director and CEO. To date
the Gallery has lowered the mirror and has informed that all washrooms in the
new addition will be wheelchair accessible.
f)
Resolutions from the Accessibility Committee to Council
The Committee expressed concerns
that they are not made aware of the disposition of resolutions at the Council
level. It was suggested that the staff
person assigned to the Committee could provide updates on the Committee’s
resolutions.
g)
Volunteer Appreciation Day
Volunteer Appreciation Day will be
held on
8. NEXT MEETING
The next scheduled meeting of the Accessibility Committee is on
9. ADJOURNMENT
The Advisory Committee on
Accessibility adjourned at the hour of