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Kevin Boehmer, Canadian Standards Association
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David Dilks, Lura Consulting
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Mike Dodd, Canadian Standards Association
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Mansur Rahim, Ministry of Community and Social Services
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Nelly Tion, Ministry of Community and Social Services
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Danielle Belanger, Ministry of Community and Social Services
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Scot Weeres, Ministry of Community and Social Services
M13.1 Call to Order
A. Cormier (Chair) called the 13th meeting of the Accessible Transportation Standards Development Committee (T-SDC) meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. on March 26, 2008.
M13.2 Housekeeping and Facility Safety
M. Dodd advised the T-SDC members about housekeeping matters for the meeting. He then introduced Darryl Hill of the Toronto Hilton who advised the members of the hotel safety plans in the event of an emergency.
A. Cormier welcomed the members to the 13th meeting of the T-SDC. He thanked the minister and her staff for their support on this project and welcomed the new members who would bring renewed energy and a new perspective to the completion of the draft standard. He noted that the committee was facing the task of reviewing the draft standard and the comments received during the public review of the draft.
A. Cormier also welcomed Lauri Sue Robertson (a disability awareness consultant) who attended the meeting to offer support and advice to the support unit and the T-SDC on accessible meeting issues.
M13.3 Meeting Objectives
A. Cormier detailed the objectives of the 13th meeting, including:
a) getting to know members of the T-SDC;
b) start developing a common understanding of the work ahead;
c) reviewing accomplishments of the T-SDC to date; and
d) working towards completion of the project.
A. Cormier also pointed out that David Dilks of Lura Consulting would be acting as the facilitator for the meeting of the T-SDC.
M13.4 Administrative Matters
M13.4.1 Approval of the Meeting 13 Draft Agenda
A. Cormier asked if there were any additions to the draft agenda and hearing none asked that the agenda be accepted as presented. Members approved the draft agenda as tabled.
M13.4.2 Approval of the Meeting 12 Draft Minutes
M. Dodd noted that draft minutes of the 12th meeting of the T-SDC had been approved by correspondence in June 2007. He noted that this process was not typical as draft T-SDC minutes were generally approved at subsequent T-SDC meetings.
M13.4.3 Membership Review
A. Cormier pointed out that the members name were appended to the agenda for the
meeting. He asked M. Dodd to make the member contact information available on the Document Repository website.
M13.5 Member Introduction
D. Dilks welcomed the members to the meeting. He reminded the members that the purpose
of the meeting over the next 2 days would be:
a) to get to know each other on the enlarged committee;
b) to develop a common understanding of the committee’s work and accomplishments to
date;
c) to establish and agree on a work plan (including meeting dates) for moving forward.
M13.5.1 Meet New Members
D. Dilks asked each committee member to provide:
- Their name and affiliation;
- Where they are based;
- Whether they were an existing or a new member; and
- The single biggest factor that motivated them to join the committee.
D Dilks summarized factors that motivated members to joint the committee, noting he was impressed with the experience of members, their willingness to work on this project, and their passion to complete the work of the committee.
M13.6 Shared Perspectives on Moving Forward (Part 1) – Small Table Discussions
Under the direction of D. Dilks, members participated in small group discussions to answer the following questions and report back to the whole committee:
1) What strikes you most about the work of the committee to date?
D. DiIks summarized that the key themes that emerged from the small group discussions on this issue, including:
- The T-SDC had made a good start at drafting the standard.
- There was a large volume of work generated by the committee.
- A lot of time was involved in meeting as a group.
- Timelines for accessibility need to be revisited.
- Harmonization is necessary across all standards.
- There are local and geographic issues than may need to be addressed.
2) What are the key questions we will need to answer together as we move forward?
D. DiIks summarized that the key themes that emerged from the small group discussions on this issue, including:
- The committee needs to address terminology to be consistent and clear.
- Costs and funding needs to be identified and addressed.
- The time commitment of the committee members should be considered.
- Task forces should be established based on an aspect of the standard such as conveyance type or clause.
- Compliance and enforcement needs to be addressed.
3) What do you see as the most important success factors that will enable the committee to move forward together and complete our mandate?
D. Dilks summarized that the key themes that emerged from the small group discussions on this issue, including:
- Human rights discussion may be needed with the T-SDC.
- Templates for submitting proposals to T-SDC should be developed.
- Best practices should be reviewed.
- The scope of task forces should to be defined before they start to work.
- Open mindedness is necessary as task forces move forward.
- Websites may be used to inform groups of T-SDC discussion and decisions.
- Task Forces may need to review guiding principles.
M13.7
ADO overview: Government Commitment, Terms of Reference, and Rules and Procedures
S. Weeres updated T-SDC members on the election commitment regarding changes to the membership of the T-SDC.
He went over revisions to the Term of Reference for the T-SDC and reiterated that it is hoped that the revision to the draft standard could be completed in 10 months.
S. Weeres then reviewed rules and procedures for SDC work.
M13.8 Outcomes, Guiding Principles, Scope
N. Tion made a presentation on the following as an overview of the foundation for the T-SDC to reconvene and consider the public review comments:
1) Guiding Principles for T-SDC
2) Transportation Accessibility Outcomes
3) Scope of the draft transportation standard
Comments from the members included:
- The word “should” as used in the T-SDC guiding principles isn’t strong enough and should be replaced with “must” or “shall”
- What is the continuing role of specialized transit if the goal of the T-SDC is to make conventional transit fully accessible?
- Is there provision for connection with other forms of transport such as air or inter-provincial buses? It was pointed out that air travel or inter-provincial bus transportation is under federal jurisdiction
- Need for more definitions and greater clarity in existing terms (e.g. fixed route, family of service)
- Eligibility criteria for riders and attendants and how it will be determined.
M13.9 Overview of the Accessible Transportation Draft
D. Dilks introduced T. Nolan, a representative from the Council of Ontario Universities, who gave an overview of the training, booked services, school transportation, and other transportation services clauses (i.e., Clauses 4, 8, 9, and 10) in the draft.
T. Nolan’s presentation gave the members information on the
1) Evolution on content of the various clauses; and
2) Perspectives from public review
Comments from the T-SDC included:
- Sensitivity training and frequency training should be included for transit operators;
- Equipment training for both operators and users should be made available;
- Wheelchair recovery for people with mobility aids who may be transported by ambulance to a health care facility without their mobility aid should be considered as part of the standard; and
- Funding for vehicles in both the public and the private sectors should be taken under consideration.
M. Dodd gave a presentation on some of the recurring themes in the public review comments. The themes identified in several of the clauses included:
- Clarification of requirements
- Funding
- Harmonization with Other Standards
- Human Rights – equality and integration
- Signage
- Timelines
- Training.
D. Dilks introduced K. Paleczny representing the Ontario Public Transit Association and the Canadian Urban Transit Association, who gave a presentation on the evolution of, and the perspectives from public review on the clauses covering fixed route and accessible public services (Clauses 5 and 6) in the draft.
Comments from the T-SDC included:
- What laws exist that would ensure drivers use accessibility equipment when necessary?
- What is the funding allocation for transit in a municipality?
- The disability community should be consulted on the designs of new technical devices on transit vehicles.
- Timelines are too long especially for new vehicles.
- What is the process and how are decisions made to retrofit? Retrofitting is still an issue to be addressed on a clause by clause basis.
- Awareness training programs should be standardized. There is a need for consistency across transit systems.
D. Dilks introduced L. Pollock, Dignity Transportation Inc., who gave a presentation on the evolution of, and the perspectives from public review on on-demand taxi services (Clause 7) in the draft.
Comments from the T-SDC included:
- Does a brokerage level in the industry add to the cost, and how can the system be made more profitable for operators to make use of accessible vehicles?
- Are accessible taxis funded?
- Could T-SDC deal with taxi licensing?
- Can a multi-purpose vehicle be built to meet the needs of operators and passengers with or without disabilities?
- Training of taxi operators to load passengers appropriately and to ask the right questions so the right vehicle is sent.
- There was also discussion on side-loaders vs. rear-loaders and the safety of the passenger with respect to seat-belt/tie-down. There are multi-layers of standards that taxis must adhere to, including D-409, CSA and Highway Traffic Act.
- Manufacturers should be involved in T-SDC discussions.
- Rear-loaders do not work in urban settings because of curb-cuts. There needs to be harmonization with the Built Environment standard.
- How can a person with a visual impairment actually confirm fares on the meter?
- How might a blind user get a receipt in other formats such as Braille?
M13.10 Development of the Work Plan
Based on success factors identified by the T-SDC under item M13.6, K. Boehmer proposed the following potential path forward for the committee:
1. T-SDC members to provide written comments on the Guiding Principles and the Scope (Clause 1 of the draft) to M. Dodd no later than April 18. Comments will be compiled and distributed by the Support Unit in advance of Meeting 14.
2. Establishment of the following clause-specific task forces:
a) Training (Clause 4)
b) Fixed route and accessible public services (Clause 5 and 6)
c) On-Demand taxi services (Clauses 7)
d) Booked, school and other services (Clause 8, 9 and 10)
3. The purpose of the Task Forces will be to
a) review relevant clauses of the public review draft standard
b) review related public review comments
c) characterize and describe main themes/issues from public review comments
d) recommend (if required) changes to the draft standard
4. The Support Unit will provide Task Forces with relevant background information (eg, draft standard, public review comments) shortly after Meeting 13. Task Forces will be asked to review relevant clauses of the public review draft standard and related public review comments in preparation for Meeting 14.
The T-SDC agreed that task forces should have a balance of voting members, advisors, and people with and without disabilities. The following task force membership was proposed:
Training Task Force
1. Sharon Hambleton
2. Silvan Bruno
3. James Bisson
4. Earl Black
5. Danielle Svec
6. Maria Ann Pennacchietti
7. Uzma Khan
8. Georges Ansell
Fixed Route/Public Transit Task Force
1. Kelly Paleczny
2. Glenn Johnston
3. Katrina Carrera
4. Tim Nolan
5. Silvan Bruno
6. Druce Ayres
7. Mark Brose
8. Glenn Barnes
9. Bob Brown
10. Julianne Hay
11. Louise Bark
12. Ron Ross
13. Linda McAusland
On-demand Taxi Task Force
1. Spiros Bastas
2. Lloyd Pollock
3. James Bisson
4. Lesley MacDonald
5. Joan Gallagher-Bell
6. Mark Nagler
7. Tanya Wanio
Booked, School and Other Service Task Force
1. David Carroll
2. Valmay Barkey
3. Blyth Helman
4. Spiros Bastas
5. Jo-Ann Bentley
6. Daniel McKay
7. Diann Krieger
8. Terry Gilhen
9. Vanessa Szeto
The T-SDC agreed to confirm task force membership following the meeting. It was agreed that the T-SDC members should contact the Support Unit with suggestions to improve task force membership by April 18, 2008.
The T-SDC asked the Support Unit to invite the Ontario Human Rights Commission to present at their next meeting (Meeting 14).
M13.11 New Business
No new business was discussed at this meeting.
M13.12 Next Meetings
M13.12.1 Meeting 14
Meeting 14 is tentatively scheduled for
Date: Tuesday and Wednesday May 6 - 7, 2008
Place: To be determined
Time:
9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (May 6)
9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. (May 7)
M13.12.2 Future Meetings
Tentative dates for future meetings of the T-SDC are as follows:
Meeting 15 – June 16 - 17, 2008.
Meeting 16 – August 5 - 6, 2008.
Meeting 17 – September 10 - 11, 2008.
Meeting 18 – October 29 - 30, 2008.
Meeting 19 – December 3 - 4, 2008.
M13.13 Process Review
The members felt that the format of the meeting was acceptable.
M13.14 Accessible Meetings
Lauri Sue Robertson led a discussion on the accessibility of the meeting facilities.
The members of the T-SDC felt that a meeting venue with hotel accommodations and meeting facilities in the same building was preferred.
It was felt that a larger meeting room would better suit the needs of people with mobility aids.
M13.15 Adjournment
Meeting 13 adjourned at 3:15 p.m. on March 27, 2008.