“Beth McKellar, chair of the HandyDart Riders’ Alliance, has been using HandyDart services for 20 years. She says she loves her bus drivers — but not the way the company is run.
To get a ride you have to wait on hold for 20 minutes before being able to speak with dispatch and you never know if it’s a bus or a taxi that will pick you up, she says. A taxi driver might not know how to help you get to the vehicle or help with your seatbelt the way a bus driver does, she says, which means passengers have to constantly advocate for their safety.
The passengers she worries about the most are chemotherapy and dialysis patients who might miss a pickup time at the hospital because their treatment ran long. They then have to wait for several hours for the next available ride.
“They’re so sick and just want to go home, not to wait three hours in the hospital for a ride,” McKellar said. “That’s just cruel.”
Read the full article at https://www.thetyee.ca/News/2024/07/26/Riders-Urge-TransLink-HandyDart/