As the transit strike stretches into the sixth week, the city is encouraging people who are having serious difficulty getting around to call for help.
“Many have developed other ways to cope, but at this point it may be becoming more critical for some people,” said Aaron Burry, the city’s general manager of recreation and community services. “We certainly don’t want seniors venturing out to appointments and so on and putting themselves at risk.”
The city is offering a number of transportation options to mitigate the impact of the strike and is encouraging people to call 311, if they need help.
The city would then connect them to the nearest community health resource centre that is coordinating transportation needs.
Last week, the city distributed around 10,500 taxi chits to social service agencies to help people get out to medical appointments and go get groceries.
“We’re trying to help people that are most in need,” he said.
“It’s for people who can’t go to get groceries, can’t go to a key medical appointment. Rather than have them try to get on without transportation, we try to connect them to the services that are available.”
Today, Burry said they will be updating councillors on how the social impact mitigation strategies have worked and what they are anticipating as the strike continues.
