Message from the Head of Wheel-Trans

The year is off to a great start for Wheel-Trans. In January, the election for the TTC’s Advisory Committee on Accessible Transit (ACAT) was held. Anita Dressler returned to her role as ACAT Chair for the second consecutive year, along with co-Vice-Chair Erica Tanny. I welcome the new co-Vice-Chair, Betty Rivington-Law, and all other members of the 2024 Committee. I look forward to working with the Committee members toward our shared goal of providing accessible and inclusive transit to the people of Toronto.

In April, we held in-person and online public consultations to gather community feedback on Family of Services (FOS) and the accessibility of the conventional transit system. We also gathered feedback through a survey by Forum Research Inc., an independent research firm. We are in the process of putting together a detailed action plan to address the feedback we received through the consultations and the survey.

Looking ahead to the second half of 2024, we are focusing on several initiatives. This includes the ongoing efforts of our Wheel-Trans Eligibility Re-Registration Program, which ensures that customers who registered prior to January 1, 2017 are categorized into one of the three AODA-mandated eligibility categories.

Further, in response to the growing demand for the Travel Training Program, we made a significant investment by hiring three additional Travel Training Specialists, bringing our total to four Specialists. Finally, on the technological front, we continue to modernize our systems. We are currently upgrading the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) telephone system and working on a one-number call management feature as part of the IVR system to have a single contact number for Wheel-Trans.

On behalf of Wheel-Trans, I wish you a delightful summer!

Cameron Penman
​Head – Wheel-Trans

Message originally published in Wheel-Trans Summer 2024 Access Newsletter.