ACAT Meeting - July 30, 2009

Agenda is not available for this meeting.
Please check the meeting minutes for meeting details.

Agenda is not available for this meeting.
Please check the meeting minutes for meeting details.

Agenda is not available for this meeting.
Please check the meeting minutes for meeting details.

Agenda is not available for this meeting.
Please check the meeting minutes for meeting details.

Susan Davidson, Chair, called the meeting to order at approximately 1:10 p.m. Roll call was taken.

Nil.

On motion of Howard Wax, ACAT approved the agenda.

On motion of Howard Wax, ACAT approved the minutes of the meeting held on June 25, 2009 with amendments.

Item I – Bus Destination Messages was assigned to the Communications Subcommittee. The Subcommittee is awaiting a draft protocol from Carla Basso in Marketing and Customer Service Department. Deferred to the September 2009 ACAT meeting.

Item II – Free Transit for Wheel-Trans Riders was deferred to the August 2009 ACAT meeting.

Kathy Dean, Manager of TTC Training and Support Services Department, reviewed the presentation on the TTC’s proposal to comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act 2005 (AODA), Ontario Regulation 429/07.

The following recommendations were made by the members:

• Add a contact phone number for Wheel-Trans
• “Closing the loop” for customers submitting concerns and inquiries by internet
• Add Ride Guide, Easier Access on the TTC, and front line staff as methods of communication
• Consider the distribution of literature in Multilingual formats
• “Test driving” the AODA training on ACAT
• Offer the definition of a customer to include customers with disabilities in the opening and then omit “Customers with disabilities” throughout the document
• Develop guidelines for turnaround for accessing document requests
• Anticipate sources for the various formats for documents

Angela Marley, Chair of the Wheel-Trans Operations Subcommittee, informed members that the Subcommittee will meet with the Communications Subcommittee to further develop the Honouring Community Leaders program and will present their proposal to ACAT at the August 2009 meeting. She also raised an issue with radio language (customers are referred to as “wheelies”, chairs or scooters instead of people using that mobility device) and asked that staff draft a letter to employees outlining the correct protocol.

Garnett Martin, Chair of the Design Review Subcommittee, said that the Subcommittee will be very busy with Transit City, LRT, Eglinton Crosstown LRT, AODA, Easier Access Phase III, and the Spadina Subway Expansion. The meeting minutes will be available for the August 2009 ACAT meeting.

Other issues under review are the Priority Seating signs on vehicles, the positioning of bus shelters limiting access, and the new Operator Shields.

Deferred to August 30, 2009 Meeting.

Michelle Jones, Project Manager - ITS, reviewed the presentation on the Internet Trip Planner with the members. She welcomed input from all ACAT members and will be working with four volunteers from ACAT as well as others to test the application prior to implementation in the fall this year. This application will provide links to various route pages and other information, as well as turn-by-turn directions.

Members requested that directions and distances indicated should lead customers to the accessible entrances at subway stations. Michelle said that she would investigate if this was feasible. Suggestions include a link to the Customer Service Form. Michelle indicated that this was a mock-up; however, the site will link to the current TTC.CA Customer Service form. Another suggestion was to use international symbols for degree of difficulty and distances. Michelle indicated that the trip planner will be using the metric system.

Susan Davidson reminded the members that a request has been made to either have ACAT placed as an agenda item on Commission Meetings or to have a Commissioner attend ACAT meetings to ensure that Commissioners are apprised of ACAT activities. Bill Frost and Susan are to pursue a protocol for this item.

Robert Muzzy attempted to attend the Eglinton Crosstown LRT Public Meeting at Iondale Heights United Church on Wednesday but was unable due to lack of accessibility. 

On motion of Sam Savona, ACAT, with the assistance of Bill Frost, will draft a letter to the Commission recommending that all future TTC public meetings be held at facilities that allow level entrance to the meeting or have person elevator access to the venue.

The next meeting of ACAT will be held on Thursday, August 27, 2009, in the 7th Floor Boardroom, 1900 Yonge Street.

The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:10 p.m.

Janet O’Sullivan
For Secretary