All employees assigned to the Water Taxi Service hubs at Port-of-Spain and San Fernando are trained to assist people with disabilities.
This includes all customer service representatives, supervisors and personnel operating on board the vessel.
During last Monday’s Joint Select Committee (JSC) meeting, Sharda Ramlakhan, of the Consortium of Disability Organisations, called on the National Infrastructure Development Company Limited (NIDCO) and the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) to upgrade and improve their services to better accommodate physically challenged people utilising those services.
Following Ramlakhan’s public call, NIDCO officials confirmed that their service had been designed to accommodate physically challenged people as wheelchairs had been provided to assist such persons to board the vessel and also disembark with ease.
Similarly, there were specially allocated places on the boat for these persons enabling them to easily access the washroom and other facilities.
Diagnosed with a rare form of muscular dystrophy when she was 27, Ramlakhan uses a motorised wheelchair.
During a visit to the Water Taxi Office, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, the Guardian heard that the employees were specially trained to assist disabled people and had been freely doing so whenever any such person presented themselves for a sailing.
One woman who was waiting to board the boat for the 7 am sailing recalled members of staff assisting a disabled woman to board the boat.
The onlooker said the woman had been seated in the wheelchair minutes after entering the terminal, following which she was processed and lifted over the initial threshold onto the ramp and then lowered onto the boat. The woman who declined to give her name said, “The staff managed but you could see they were struggling to lift the chair with the lady in it. But she got on the boat and came off the same way.”
Unable to speak about the shuttle service which is provided by the PTSC to ferry passengers into the cities of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando, the woman said she knew it was “hard” for physically challenged people to access this particular service, especially during peak hours.
“Someone has to assist them into the bus and when there is a crowd of people, it is hard for them to get help,” she said.
When Ramlakhan appeared before the JSC, she spoke of the need by physically challenged people for assistance to board both the bus and water taxi.
She alleged that it was not inclusive and should be re-engineered as “it is not an inclusive service, it does not promote inclusion of persons with disabilities. It treats persons with disabilities as objects as opposed to subjects.”
Declaring that it was a “grave concern and a human rights issue,” Ramlakhan urged both NIDCO and PTSC to review their operations to accommodate physically challenged people.
PTSC: We cater for them
Contacted yesterday, PTSC chairman Terrance Beepath confirmed that the ELDAMO Service catered specifically for physically challenged people.
In 2012, Government launched a new fleet of 24 specially equipped buses called the Elderly and Differently Abled Mobile (ELDAMO) Service.
Beepath said these buses were outfitted with a driver as well as a caregiver and that anyone requiring such a service could contact the PTSC and request a pick-up from their home to the intended destination.
However, he said, the time had come to speak with NIDCO so that the service could be made available for physically challenged people using the water taxi.
Adding that these buses were specially equipped with a mechanical lift for persons using wheelchairs, Beepath explained that because the fleet was small and there was a back-up of requests by persons wanting to be taken to the doctor or the grocery or pharmacy, the PTSC was seeking to expand the fleet in the coming months as it was a service that was heavily utilised by the disabled population.
Revealing that he had only yesterday written to the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services for financial assistance to expand the fleet by another 24 buses, Beepath said in this way they would be able to improve and increase the services being rendered to members of the disabled community.
More info
The water taxi buses, which were purchased solely for the purpose of transporting commuters to and from the Water Taxi Terminals in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando, were designed for (short drops) urban operation and have a seating capacity of 32, with room for standing passengers.
Purchased in 2008 from the Higer Bus Company Ltd of China, each bus has four emergency windows and two overhead emergency exits.
In 2008, the Water Taxi Service (WTS) was formally introduced by Government through Nidco, as an alternative and complementary mode of transport for citizens and visitors. The initiative, which identified the North-South Corridor (namely, Point Fortin to Diego Martin) sought to ease traffic congestion along major routes.
The water taxi buses make trips daily.