2. Making it Easier to Move Around the Region

Accessibility Achievements

Vehicles and Equipment

Throughout 2006, York Region worked to make it easier for people with disabilities to move around York Region.

By the end of the year, approximately 80% of York Region's conventional buses were accessible (up from 67% in 2005), and the transit system was working with service agencies to create a Travel Training Program to help people with disabilities develop the skills and confidence needed to use accessible conventional buses.

To make its Mobility Plus service accessible to more people, the Region is upgrading its ride booking hardware and software to provide more trips and better customer service. The Region is also in the process of installing global positioning systems on its Mobility Plus buses. This technology will improve trip availability and on-time system performance and provide greater safety and security for riders, because the location of vehicles can be tracked at all times.

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Roadways and Crosswalks

As part of the larger effort to make our communities more accessible, York Region has made improvements such as:

• relocating push buttons at some intersections and coordinating with the municipalities to install concrete or asphalt at the base of pedestrian push button poles to make them easier for people with disabilities to reach;
• installing 29 countdown traffic control signals;
• developing plans to install audible traffic control signals to help people who are blind or have low vision; and
• developing plans to construct 200 new or replacement bus stop pads each year.

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Education and Outreach

During 2006, about 60 people from York Region attended a "Making Ontario's Heritage Accessible" workshop, co-hosted by York Region's Planning and Development Services Department and the Ontario Historical Society. The workshop helped raise awareness of the challenges that people with disabilities face trying to visit some heritage sites, and provided information on ways to make the Region's sites more accessible.

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Continuing to Identify Barriers

Transit

Demand for Mobility Plus service continues to grow. In 2007, York Region Transit will identify barriers to increasing service as well as strategies to meet needs. As part of its plan to designate accessible transit routes, the Region will continue to assess the process used for allocating accessible vehicles.

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Removing Barriers

Transit and Roadways

During 2007, Transportation and Works will make a number of additions and changes to the transit and road system to make it easier for people to move around the region. For example, the Department will:

• continue to purchase accessible buses. By the end of 2007, 85% of York Region's conventional transit vehicles will be accessible (up from 80% in 2006);
• launch its Travel Training Pilot Program targeted at seniors and persons with disabilities to develop the skills and confidence needed to ride conventional transit;
• continue to allocate accessible buses to routes where there is the greatest need for services;
• construct 200 concrete bus pads along accessible transit routes;
• install more audible and countdown traffic control signals that make it easier for people who are blind or have low vision, people with physical disabilities, people who are older, and parents with children to feel confident crossing busy intersections;
• adjust the height of pedestrian push buttons on traffic signal poles and install a concrete or asphalt surface at the base of the poles so people using wheelchairs or scooters can reach the crossing button more easily; and
• act on the findings of the assessment of audio and visual bus stop announcements and begin installing technologies that will make it easier for people who are blind or have low vision or a person with hearing loss to know when they are reaching their stop.