Para Transpo booking changes mean users can 'have a life'

Para Transpo users no longer need toagonize over the trips they book each day.

Under the old four-trip limit, two doctor appointments could use up the daily quota, said accessibility advocate Catherine Gardner, meaning people relying on the buses often had no time for rides that weren't essential.

There is now no limit.

"It's going to be just like average people," she said excitedly about changes to thebooking system now in effect. "We can stay out. We can have a life."

Following city council's approvalof free transit fares inDecember, John Redins, another disabilities advocate as well as a board member for Ottawa Transit Riders, contacted OC Transpo for a clarification about the four-trip rule.

The questions of what unlimited free trips would mean for users of the service opened the door for ending the restrictions permanently.

Redins says the four-trip limit was a long-standing issue for Ottawans with disabilities.

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Para Transpo users could only book four trips each time they used the system, but that decision somehow became stretched to mean only four trips could be booked each day, he said.

'People will now have a life'

"It was an equity issue," he said.

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While he'd still like to see some changes to the service like allowing calls after midnight and guaranteed same-day bookings, he's happy about the change.

"So it is a win, to help people with disabilities get around the city."

Gardner thinks some might beconcerned trips will be harder to book now that they're unlimited but she doesn't believe those concerns are warranted.

"I just booked my trips online," she said on Monday. "And I booked them at quarter to 5, and I've got every trip that I want for tomorrow."

In a statement, Pat Scrimgeour, director of customer systems and planning, saidPara Transpo has"sufficient capacity to accommodate all trip requests from customers."

Gardner is excited about being able to catch a movie or see a friend, even if it isn't absolutely necessary.

"All I can say is it's great news. Excellent news, that people will now have a life."