Starting in January 2015, Airdrie Transit will provide residents transportation in to Calgary for specialist medical appointments on an as-needed basis after Airdrie City council approved a request by staff to make changes to the accessible transit program at their regular meeting on Oct. 20.
The current program offered by ACCESS Airdrie provides busing from Airdrie into Calgary on Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. only.
“The service we had before was ineffective and not very good so I’m thrilled that we’re going to provide better options,” Mayor Peter Brown said.
“I’m really excited about offering a better service that is cost effective to clients and to the City.”
Transit Coordinator Chris McIsaac originally presented the results from a survey and interviews with current users conducted from April 30 to Aug. 1 to City council on Oct. 6. He said the results showed that users felt there was a lack of affordable alternatives and a service that only runs one day a week is insufficient for their needs.
McIsaac said an additional private service provider could provide accessible service, and asked Council to approve an alternative that would provide a method of transportation for clients to specialists in Calgary that are unavailable in Airdrie on an as-needed basis.
The program would provide round-trip service for clients on a user-pays basis beginning January 1, 2015, with no impact on Transit’s operating budget. The funds required to operate the service would only require money be redirected within the transit budget, according to McIsaac.
“We’ve had ongoing communication with the City of Calgary Livery Service branch that maintains and coordinates the Livery Transport Bylaw governing taxi services in the City of Calgary,” he said.
“We have discussed the Livery Transport Bylaw with representatives from Calgary Livery Services and they have indicated that the Livery Bylaw, as it currently stands, is under review at an administrative level and the timeline for any proposed changes to the bylaw would be in early 2015.”
McIsaac said the proposed changes to Calgary’s bylaw would allow taxis from Airdrie an opportunity to deliver clients to Calgary. Under the current bylaw, Airdrie taxi companies are prohibited from operating in Calgary.
Mohammed Benini, owner of Cowboy Taxi in Airdrie, said he applied for and has been granted a taxi brokerage in Calgary.
“I’ve been working for years to try to form a regional taxi service so we can have better taxi service all around and hopefully something like this, if I can take people back and forth to Calgary, it should be better,” he said.
Airdrie Transit will now issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) to find a company that can offer the new accessible service model, according to McIsaac.
“If a taxi service was able to meet the criteria of the Calgary Livery Bylaw, they would be able to compete for the contract,” said City Manager Paul Schulze.
“I’m hoping to be able to fit the criteria to do it,” said Benini.
“They are pretty tough criteria to get. I will be doing it, though, because I also got an okay from the (Calgary) Livery Services to bring back passengers (to Airdrie). I signed the agreement last week (week of Oct. 13).”
Brown said “the best business model and the best service model will be awarded the RFP.”
People who require accessible transit must qualify for client status with Airdrie Transit and must provide an endorsement by a medical professional. According to McIsaac, most clients require a trip to a specialist in Calgary once per month.
“The positive for the customer under this model is flexibility,” McIsaac said.
“Today we provide service on a Tuesday. By opening it up, we provide service on a seven-day-a-week model for that client to meet their needs. Instead of working around our schedule, we can work around theirs.”
At the Oct. 20 City council meeting, Alderman Darrell Belyk asked if personal care attendants will also have to pay a fare to use the service with their clients.
Personal care attendants, as determined through the eligibility process each client must undergo, are able to travel with that client free of charge, according to McIsaac.
“They accompany that customer to make sure they’re safe, they’re comfortable, if there’s any concerns with their mobility, those are addressed with the personal care attendant, so there’s no charge,” McIsaac said.
“Some of our services do allow a companion to join if there’s space available. The companion is required to pay the same rate as the user would. A companion could be anyone. The personal care attendant is a requirement for that person to use that service.”
