Councillor asks city to review DATS cancellation policy

Nearly 80 mentally and physically disabled transit riders were suspended in Edmonton this year after failing to abide by the Disabled Adult Transit Systems cancellation policy.

The door-to-door service is available to anyone with a disability which prevents them from riding regular transit, at the same cost as bus fare.

Under the policy, which was changed in September 2012, customers must cancel a scheduled ride at least two hours ahead of time. In the past, only 30 minutes notice was necessary.

In the year before the policy was changed, 46 riders were suspended for failing to give sufficient notice; since the policy was updated, that number has nearly doubled.

So what happens is the vehicle shows up, and they get on the bad list. So if you do that a number of times, you get restricted access, Coun. Mike Nickel said after a transportation committee on Tuesday.

Nickel said he wants to make sure people can still get rides, even if they change their plans on short notice.

For those people, it is a problem, he said.

But Doug Tait, a supervisor with DATS, said the new cancellation policy is actually better for riders.

Under the half hour policy, he said buses could already be on their way when the customer called to cancel. Now, DATS is able to redeploy buses, which means less wasted time and more rides for people who need them.

Typically when we work with customers, and we explain the situation, why its there and why its there for everybody else, they understand and they work with us, he said.

Customers get several warnings before their service is suspended. A warning is issued after a customer misses three rides in a four-week period.

Tait said suspended riders are a relatively small group less than one per cent of DATS 9,976 riders.

Nickel has asked city administration to review the policy to see if the situation can be improved.