Fraser Valley transit strike complicates man’s ability to get to doctor’s appointments

As a transit strike in the Fraser Valley continues, an Abbotsford woman says the service disruption means her husband can’t take handyDART to get to his medical appointments.

Amid a union member walkout, CUPE 561 says handyDART is operating only at “essential service levels for passengers requiring treatment for cancer, multiple sclerosis, and renal dialysis.”

However, Linda says her husband doesn’t fall into any of those categories.

“My husband … last year, December, had intracerebral brain hemorrhage and almost died. And then in July, he had to go get an AVM (arteriovenous malformation) removed, which caused another intracerebral brain hemorrhage and he had to go in for life-saving brain surgery,” Linda said.

“He relies on the service to get up to the hospital for his OT (occupational therapist) and to his neurologists and things like that, and because he has brain damage, and the operation has also left him basically blind … the service is definitely needed.”

BC Transit tells CityNews the BC Labour Relations Board deemed the three medical-related conditions — cancer, multiple sclerosis, and renal dialysis — as essential.

‘Let’s not affect the innocent’

According to BC Transit, “handyDART is an accessible, door-to-door shared transit service for people with permanent or temporary disabilities that prevent them from using fixed-route transit without assistance from another person.”

While unionized bus workers have been taking job action for weeks now, initially, handyDART service was not affected. But on March 17, CUPE said handyDART was moving to essential service only, adding, “all other transit services in the Fraser Valley will cease indefinitely until a fair deal is reached.”

Linda says when she called about accessing the service this week, “we were just told that the handyDART service was no longer available.

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Related articles: 

• Fraser Valley transit strike: No labour talks scheduled, union says

• B.C. Fraser Valley bus services suspended

• BC Transit bus strike disrupts service in Abbotsford, Chilliwack

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While she tells CityNews she can still drive her loved one to some of his appointments, she can’t do it all the time.

“I’m still trying to work full-time and do everything else, sometimes I need that help,” Linda said.

“Having it not there is definitely something I don’t believe in. I believe in people fighting for their rights and their income, but I don’t believe in fighting for your rights where it affects the people that are in need or don’t have the abilities like other people do to be able to make those changes or to know how to do it mentally.”

Linda says not having access to the service is “upsetting” for the couple.

“You’re already going through so much, like people don’t even know…what we’ve gone through,” she said.

“Let’s not affect the innocent, let’s not affect the people that can’t just pick up the phone and ask a friend, or phone a taxi [to give them a ride].”

The labour dispute between union members and their employer — First Transit, a BC Transit contractor — has been ongoing for nearly a year, with the issues at hand first being discussed in the spring of last year. In early February, the union announced drivers would stop collecting fares as its first form of job action.

Earlier this month, the union temporarily resumed service as negotiations continued before the full-service suspension that began on Monday.

With files from Greg Bowman