City of Montreal called out for lack of wheelchair-friendly transport

A group of Montrealers has written an open letter to Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre about the lack of adapted transportation in the city after three friends had an especially difficult time getting home last month.

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Pierre Lemay, who uses a wheelchair, said his plans are often derailed due to poor service in the city. 

The latest problem was on Jan. 30, when Lemay went out for supper with his girlfriend and brother.

All three use wheelchairs.

Lemay said they called ahead to book their return home with the STM's adapted transport, but when the night went longer than expected they called back to arrange a later departure.

According to Lemay, the STM said it was fully booked for the night.

Lemay said his next option was to call for taxis.

But Lemay said he called several companies, but none of them were available.

Lemay said the metro wasn't an option, since only eight stations have wheelchair access.

Eventually, they decided to take the bus, even though STM policy allows only one wheelchair on the bus at a time.

Lemay said they were lucky enough to have a driver willing to bend the rules for them.

He said it's not the first time he's had this kind of problem.

"It's very, very complicated to get around Montreal," he said.

STM said it is fulfilling its responsibilities

A spokeswoman for the STM said it is only in charge of Paratransit, the service where you book ahead of time for a wheelchair-friendly taxi or shuttle bus.

She said Montreal's transit authority has a contract with 14 taxi companies for that service. Aside from that, she said, it's not up to them to ensure that private taxi companies have accessible taxis for regular service.

Mayor Denis Coderre hasn't returned a request for comment from CBC.