I was at a transit committee meeting to support the presentation of a citizen who was having trouble getting handiDART service for the two young men in his care who needed this service to get out.

Staff was instructed to prepare a report on this matter for the committee. Later during the committee meeting it was stated the committee was in the process of drawing up a new 5 year plan.

Of concern to me was that for both the staff report and the new 5 year plan no mention was made of consulting the wider community of handiDART users.

I made inquiries and was troubled but not surprised to find a lack of consultation with handiDART users on what the current and future needs of the system are.

I found that the problems the gentleman making the presentation had been having were not unusual or isolated. There were reports of a multitude of problems being experienced with handiDART services.

Perhaps the most disgraceful comment was that after having residents spending hours on the handiDART bus, missing classes/outings, arriving halfway through the activity they were attending or having to leave halfway through their activity they had fundraised to buy a wheelchair transport van.

These are people who depend on handiDART for transportation and as their way to get out of their homes.

We need to do a better job to meet these needs.

To begin this process we need to ask the users what the current status of handiDART is, what current needs of users the system are not meeting and what the future demand/need for handiDART will be.