Winnipeg's Transit Plus changing booking system, rides to be booked on 1st-come, 1st-served basis

Winnipeg Transit Plus, which provides transportation for people with disabilities, is moving to a first-come, first-served booking system in an effort to make the servicefairer and more accessible.

The updated system will come into effect on Oct. 6,a Wednesday news release from the City of Winnipeg said.

Currently, trip requestswith Transit Plus are assigned a priority and booked accordingly. The Manitoba ombudsman recommended changes to that booking system in 2019.

In addition to the change tohow trips are booked, clients will be now given a 30-minute pickup window instead of an exact time, the city said Wednesday.

Customers will also be able to get notifications when the driver is 15 minutes away.

The Manitoba ombudsman's 2019 report on what was then called Handi-Transit wastriggered by a complaint from the Independent Living Resource Centre, a local organization that helps people with disabilities.

It argued that under the priority-booking system, the city was not meeting its commitment to provide universal access to the public transit system.

The changes are also required in order to comply with the province's Accessibility for Manitobans Act, which saystransit operators can't have policies that restrict or limit access to a transit service.