{"id":528,"date":"2025-07-07T12:05:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T19:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/?p=528"},"modified":"2025-07-07T12:07:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T19:07:35","slug":"hra-in-news-bring-handydart-back-in-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/?p=528","title":{"rendered":"HRA in News: Bring HandyDART back in-house"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

July 7, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Langley<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Premier David Eby is urging us all to \u201cbuy B.C., buy Canadian\u201d and commits his government to \u201cbuying Canadian first.\u201d So you might think that crucial public services would be at the top of that buy-Canadian list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in Metro Vancouver, one of those services \u2013 HandyDART, which serves seniors and people with disabilities \u2013 is operated by Transdev: a giant French corporation. And American corporations are already circling, as Transdev\u2019s contract is expiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that could change soon. TransLink\u2019s board of directors was expected to vote to either operate HandyDART in-house with public sector workers \u2013 \u201cinsourcing\u201d \u2013 or contract out again (likely to a foreign company) at their June meeting. Now the decision has been delayed, apparently to give Eby\u2019s government time to study the issue. The choice ought to be clear. Instead of paying senior managers and wealthy investors in other countries, every part of TransLink should be staffed and run by people working here in B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

For more than a decade, riders have called on TransLink to operate HandyDART directly, instead of outsourcing to the lowest bidder. People with disabilities and older seniors have suffered from years of safety problems and poor service caused by multinational corporations\u2019 lack of accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A major concern among both riders and workers is these foreign corporations\u2019 ongoing failure to attract and retain enough workers to meet service demands. Even before Transdev took over, the contractors increasingly relied on subcontracted taxis \u2013 raising further concerns about reliability and quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s a place for taxis in Vancouver\u2019s transit system, rider groups have long raised concerns about HandyDART\u2019s subcontracted taxis failing to secure wheelchairs, missing trips, and leaving behind vulnerable passengers due to lack of door-to-door assistance. According to TransLink\u2019s 2024 HandyDART review, taxis were responsible for more than twice as many missed trips as HandyDART drivers, despite providing only a quarter of the total rides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following widespread criticism of service quality and working conditions \u2013 including a three-week-long strike \u2013 TransLink commissioned a study to compare the cost and benefits of insourcing versus continued private contracting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, six mayors on TransLink\u2019s Mayors\u2019 Council signed an open letter urging the agency to insource HandyDART service. City councils in Burnaby, Langley City, Langley Township, Maple Ridge, and North Vancouver also passed resolutions endorsing the call to action. And the BC NDP committed to insourcing HandyDART service in their campaign platform during the provincial election, shortly after the strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premier Eby must follow through on that promise and work with TransLink to operate TransLink as part of the public system, with all managers and their support staff working and paying taxes in Canada. More delay and reports is not what Eby committed to \u2013 he promised to get it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a travesty that TransLink has spent years sending public dollars to a series of foreign corporations, while service quality continues to decline. It is time for Premier Eby, Minister of Transportation and Transit Mike Farnworth, and the TransLink board to do the right thing and fix the problem at its source by bringing HandyDART home under public control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Save Our HandyDART is a coalition of rider activists, disability justice advocates and labour organizations who have come together to fight for the future of HandyDART.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beth McKeller, HandyDART rider and co-founder of the HandyDART Riders\u2019 Alliance,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leslie Gaudette, Council of Senior Citizens\u2019 Organizations of BC<\/a> (COSCO) president,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam Wiese, B.C. Federation of Retired Union Members<\/a> president,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union local 1724 president (It represents HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(EDITOR’S NOTE: In late June, TransLink opted to extend the contract for 18 months while service delivery is reviewed.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.langleyadvancetimes.com\/opinion\/letter-bring-handydart-back-in-house-8104803<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 7, 2025 Premier David Eby is urging us all to \u201cbuy B.C., buy Canadian\u201d and commits his government to \u201cbuying Canadian first.\u201d So you might think that crucial public services would be at the top of that buy-Canadian list. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,5,9,8,7],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-disability","tag-paratransit","tag-translink","tag-vancouver","tag-wheelchair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":532,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions\/532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handydartriders.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}