The union representing Greater Victoria transit drivers is right to protest a new rule that drivers announce each stop with a hand-held microphone. sa国际传媒 Transit made the ruling because of a complaint from the Canadian Federation for the Blind to the sa国际传媒 Human Rights Tribunal that failing to announce the stops discriminates against visually impaired passengers.
That complaint should be heeded, because visually impaired people have every right to ride the bus, and we should ensure the service works effectively for them. But perhaps there鈥檚 a better way than a blanket ruling that all stops must be announced.
Unifor Local 333 president Ben Williams says reaching for a microphone at every stop would be an unsafe distraction at a crucial moment. John Palmer, safety and environment director for sa国际传媒 Transit, counters that drivers are already accustomed to multi-tasking 鈥� they talk to supervisors on the radio, hand out transfers to passengers and open windows.
So why add another task to a job that already requires the driver鈥檚 full attention? It takes more focus to drive a city bus than it does to pilot a jet airliner (excluding takeoffs and landings). It is no easy thing to wheel a huge bus through a city intersection 鈥� the driver must be alert for oncoming vehicles, pedestrians and obstacles, at the same time being conscious of the safety of passengers. In addition, bus drivers need to be conscious of their own safety; they are vulnerable to attack from drunk or angry passengers.
There are already too many factors that can distract drivers 鈥� they don鈥檛 need another one.
And the multi-tasking to which Palmer refers happens when safety allows. A driver is not likely to be talking on the radio to a supervisor while navigating that wonderful intersection where Gorge Road, Douglas, Hillside and Government streets converge. The driver chooses the moments to do other things, when his or her full attention is not required to pilot the bus. Making stop announcements mandatory could hamper the safe operation of the bus.
That doesn鈥檛 mean ignoring the needs of the visually impaired. These are people who face challenges in almost every aspect of their lives, and for many of them, public transit is their principal means of travel. Two main difficulties for them are finding the right bus to board and then determining when to get off. Enhancing the mobility of a person with an impairment is desirable, but perhaps there are better ways to achieve this than making every driver on every route call out every stop.
Ideally, the bus stops should be announced automatically by a recorded voice. That kind of technology is readily available, and is used on buses in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto. It鈥檚 something that could be phased in.
Technology holds other promises, perhaps in the form of devices that inform a person of his or her location at all times. Until those technical solutions are available, we should find other ways.
It is not uncommon for a person to board a bus and ask the driver about a destination, and have the driver notify the passenger when the appropriate stop is reached. When tourists headed for Butchart Gardens take transit from downtown Victoria, drivers often notify them that they are approaching the Butchart stop.
That service could be offered to visually impaired passengers as needed. As they board the bus, they tell the driver where they are going so the driver can provide the proper route information at the right time. Perhaps major stops can be announced.
The challenges faced by visually impaired transit users are to be taken seriously, but it would be better to work out collaborative solutions than impose blanket remedies.
