Darren Harding-Nevills relies on
OC Transpo
every day.
Route 25 along Innes Road in Orléans gets Harding-Nevills to wherever he
needs to go
: visiting friends, attending university classes and running errands at local shopping plazas.
His routine was thwarted one early July day when he noticed that a trusty bench at the bus stop he would frequent had disappeared.
“I usually know there are benches around that I can sit on if I’m waiting for the bus, if it’s late or if I just missed it,” he said. “One day … There was nothing to sit on.”
Harding-Nevills uses a cane, and his knees swell when he walks or stands for prolonged periods of time. Naturally, having a place to sit while waiting for a bus eases his public transit journey. Being without one is a different story.
“Standing more on my feet, especially on concrete, is what aggravates the thing with my knees,” he said. “Without a place to sit, it gets a little harder for me to move around.
“It really concerns me.”
As of July 7, about 30
OC Transpo
benches were removed across Ottawa for maintenance like re-powder coating work, including “several” along Innes Road, according to a statement from Bryden Denyes, the City of Ottawa’s road services area manager. A delivery delay of new benches pushed back the usually prompt reinstallation.
“Bench maintenance is generally carried out with minimal disruption, and replacements are installed promptly,” Denyes wrote. “This was an exception to our usual process, and reinstallations are expected to be completed as early as the end of this week.”
Still, according to advocates and transit users, the sudden removal of benches beginning earlier in July has thrown a wrench into the plans of people with mobility issues, people living with disabilities or anyone just looking for places to sit while waiting for the bus.
“We recognize the temporary absence of benches at bus stations may be challenging for some residents, particularly those with mobility issues who rely on seating while waiting for transit,” Denyes wrote. “This is not our standard approach, and we are working to reduce the impact of this disruption and avoid similar issues in the future.”
“My main concern is it’s mostly just a lack of accessibility for people that use transit,” Harding-Nevills said. “It’s pretty frustrating, honestly.”
Oliver Arrighi lives in South Keys and relies on OC Transpo to get to work at least three days per week.
A temporary bus stop near his workplace never had a bench to begin with, but he said about a month ago he noticed four fabric dining table chairs nearby, which he thought had been placed there by community members.
Arrighi isn’t someone who requires a bench for mobility reasons, and the thought of using the fabric chairs “freaked (him) out a little bit” due to possible weather damage.
“But it would be nice to sit,” he said. “It’s great that the community stepped in to provide seating for people at bus stops, but it shouldn’t have fallen on people living in the area to do that.”
Placing lawn chairs to take action at affected bus stops is also something Harding-Nevills says he is considering.
“I discussed with some friends to at least try and do that at the places we usually frequent,” he said. “But also to assist other people as well.”
Bench removals “will affect everyone,” including people with disabilities, seniors, children and parents of young children, said Christina Ranieri, president of Ability First Ottawa, a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting persons with disabilities and their families.
“Not having access to a bench for even a short period of time could cause serious difficulties or even further injury or exhaustion,” Ranieri said, adding this would be “especially true” for people who may have sudden or immediate needs for rest.
“If anything, there should be more benches and more areas with shade for people to rest throughout the city,” she wrote.
Ranieri said Ability First Ottawa wasn’t made aware of the city’s removal of bus benches. The city did not respond to questions on whether or how it provided notice about bus bench maintenance.
“They have the resources and means to communicate this properly to the travelling public,” Ranieri said. “We think that clear communication should have been more widespread, with notices posted around the city, at all bus stops, and preferably in advance.”
Harding-Nevills said he had not received notice about the bench removals, either.
He said he would appreciate temporary bus stop benches in the meantime and “more communication” in the future.
“Even just a heads-up from OC Transpo or the city somehow, when maintenance is being done,” he said, “so people are aware that it isn’t just the city just doing whatever.”
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