The logistics of traveling to school from Steveston, BC, to Douglas College, New Westminster Campus, as a wheelchair user.

Hello there! I’m Robin, and I’m going to tell you about my day on Tuesday, March 5th, 2024. It was an early start; I woke up at about 7:30 am, which I rather dislike. This whole day was planned as a trial commute to confirm whether I could go to Douglas College for classes in person and back in a reasonable amount of time via Handydart and SkyTrain. Cabs all semester would’ve been waaay too expensive, even with Fare Savers (a type of coupon that you buy that reduces the cost of a cab by 50%, which is available to disabled residents and seniors in British Columbia) and financial assistance from the school for it to be a viable option. Handydart on its own doesn’t cut it by a long shot, I attempted the commute earlier and had to do a transfer between Handydart buses, which resulted in over a three-hour commute each way for a 45-minute drive. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good service when it is working well, but it’s got a darn good many holes and problems with its current design. At 10:30, give or take, Handydart came to pick me up from my place. I arrived at 29th Avenue SkyTrain Station a bit past 1 p.m. The train was fast, a little cramped, but not too bad at the time because it wasn’t rush hour. You get a great view of the city if you can sit at the front of the train. Regrettably, despite being a fast mode of transportation, the SkyTrain was not enough to compensate for the Handydart delays from limits on how far a single vehicle can go. The result of the day’s findings was that, despite Douglas College being a great school, it’s too far for anyone disabled traveling from Steveston. I’ll have to transfer colleges to Langara College; it’s closer than Douglas is to where I live, which is called Steveston Residence, run by the RILS organization. Anyway, by no means do I want to dissuade you, but I suggest, as a commuter with disabilities traveling in the Greater Vancouver area, that you always have other options in case Handydart, for whatever reason, won’t work for you.

Your guide for various adventures throughout Vancouver and beyond,

Robin Stace