TTC looks to boost cash for cabs to keep up with soaring Wheel-Trans usage

Transit agency want so increase taxi spending by $163 million, or more than 80 per cent of the original contracts, as money starts to run out.

Thestar.com
July 10, 2017
By Ben Spurr

The familiar red and white colours of TTC buses and streetcars have come to symbolize public transit in Toronto.

But for transit users with accessibility issues, it’s increasingly likely that the vehicle that picks them up doesn’t carry the colours of the TTC, but the livery of a private taxi company.

For years Wheel-Trans, the TTC’s paratransit service, has hired cabs to supplement its fleet of accessible buses. But as demand for Wheel-Trans has soared thanks to expanded eligibility criteria and an aging population, the company is contracting more taxis than ever.

In 2013 Wheel-Trans carried 2.8 million passengers, with about 63 per cent of them travelling in cabs, and 37 per cent of them in TTC-operated accessible Wheel-Trans buses.

Last year, Wheel-Trans had 3.9 million trips, with about 76 per cent of them in cabs. Less a quarter were made in Wheel-Trans buses.

Eve Wiggins, the TTC’s head of Wheel-Trans, said that in order to meet rising need, the agency shifted more of its rides onto taxis, which are cheaper to operate than the agency’s buses.

“Demand is certainly up and what the TTC is doing is doing its best to meet that demand, which I can say we have. We’ve never been busier,” Wiggins said.

According to Wiggins, taxis cost Wheel-Trans about $20 per trip, compared to $50 per trip on one of the agency’s accessible buses.

While the cabs cost less, demand is far outstripping what the agency expected to spend on them.

In 2014, Wheel-Trans signed five-year deals with six taxi brokerages that together capped the agency’s spending on cabs at $200 million.

But with more than a year left on the deals, the money is already running out. At a meeting of the TTC board on Wednesday, commissioners will be asked to increase taxi spending by $163 million, or more than 80 per cent of the original contracts.

The union that represents TTC and Wheel-Trans workers objects to the growing reliance on taxis, arguing that it’s a roundabout way of contracting out a public service.

Kevin Morton, secretary-treasurer for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said TTC employees are better equipped for the job.

“They’re going to have quality issues. They’re going to have customer service issues,” he said of the taxi companies.

Wiggins said that cab drivers receive special training and provide service that is “identical” to that of Wheel-Trans employees.

Statistics cited by the TTC show that the number of customer complaints for taxis and Wheel-Trans accessible buses are roughly the same.

Debbie Gillepsie, who is chair of the TTC’s Advisory Committee on Accessible Transit and is visually impaired, said that in her experience the service in cabs - which can be either standard sedans or vehicles modified to fit mobility devices - is on par with official Wheel-Trans vehicles.

She said that the mix of different vehicle types provides more flexibility for customers, and the fact that Wheel-Trans is hiring more vehicles is a positive development fir those who depend on the service.

“I think that overall it’s a good trend,” she said.

It’s also one that may not last. Wheel-Trans has been able to hire so many taxis because of a clause in the current collective agreement with the TTC union that temporarily lowered the number of trips that have to be delivered by Wheel-Trans employees. If the clause is not renewed it will expire next March, and 38 per cent of all Wheel-Trans trips will contractually have to be made by accessible bus.

Morton, the Local 113 secretary-treasurer, suggested the clause could become a bargaining chip for the union.

“We have no intentions at this time to extend that (clause) unless the TTC is willing to negotiate in good faith,” he said.