At least in Toronto, the para-transit fares are the same as the regular transit system fares.
Sometimes they send you a taxi, but other times they send around a mini-bus that operates like an UberPool and may not save you any time.
Even if a Lyft/Uber would be cheaper, if the gov is subsidizing it, they’ll pay for the lowest priority to save 3 cents.
See my other comment. In this ideal, the experience for the wheelchair-bound is comparable to others. Not the current embarrassment we have in New York, for example.
The thing is, there are a few reasons why the able-bodied tend to prefer the experience of a ride-hailing app over public transit.
- it comes to where you are, and drops you off exactly where you're going
- you get a ride when you're ready to go, and not whenever the transit is running
- higher chances of getting rides at weird hours
- no risk of interacting with aggressive panhandlers, people high on drugs, the mentally ill, or people with bad personal hygiene
Public transit has significant advantages, as well: biggest among them, it avoids the tragedy of the commons, particularly road congestion and carbon emissions. It has salubrious effects on urban planning. Places with good public transit are nice places to live.
What I want to point out is that, every one of the advantages for the able-bodied are significantly exaggerated for wheelchair users.
I don't think it's possible to offer a comparable experience, due to the very nature of the disability. So if it's more expensive to offer the less desirable option, well, we shouldn't do that.
More expensive public transit means picking from the following buckets: less transit, more expensive tickets, less pay for workers, starving other municipal programs, or kicking the problem down the road with municipal debt. None of those are great; they can be worth it for a better experience (replacing old worn-down cars for example), but not for a worse one.
So let's ask this imaginary person: Would you rather get free rides everywhere you need to go, or have to wait in the rain/snow/heat for the bus, feeling the stress of inconveniencing others with the ramp, and having to wheel yourself the rest of the distance to your destination?
That's if the bus arrives on time, which it won't. But keep in mind! silviogutierrez will feel better about themself if you take the bus! "poetic and noble" were the exact words.