Transportation

Hello, I am Don Kinsley. I have been involved in DDAC since 2007.

There are some accessibility concerns with public transportation, especially when we do not hear public announcements being made or we do not know which stop we are supposed to get off at.

For example, we had some problems with using GO trains at night because we cannot see the sign to let us know which station the train is making a stop at.

Sometimes we do not know in advance that sometimes a stop is temporarily closed due to construction or an emergency.

We wrote a letter to GO Transit in spring 2010 about our concerns. We received a letter from GO Transit. They have the goal of setting up automatic signage for announcements on buses and trains by the fall of 2012 and winter of 2013-2014.

They suggested that for now, Deaf and hard of hearing people should go on the 5^th car on the train and inform the attendant about our needs.

We wrote back to advise that we prefer to have electronic signage set up in at least one car on each train for now.

We wrote a letter to Durham Region Transit in 2010 to ask them to set up LED signs on buses and at stations to let us know which street the bus is going to make the next stop at and for announcements.

They answered our letter in November 2010. They have already has a plan set up to install automatic LED signage on their buses. They have the goal of setting up automatic signage on half of their buses during the first 6 months of 2011.