Youth need better access to transportation, so that they can gain better access to the resources in their communities. This would allow youth to become more comfortable and familiar in their surroundings, and would allow them to access services that their region has to offer. Accessible transportation was identified repeatedly as a barrier to accessing needed services.
“Getting access to the transportation network to access different areas of the community, to learn what exists in their region. It will expose young
adults to the great things that exist in the area, and some of the businesses and history in Oakville.
This would also give them confidence to ride the bus and go train, or learn how to safely bike through the region with access to bikes.”(FW)
There are examples of innovative approaches that have been used to meet transportation needs of vulnerable groups. ROCK offers taxi fare to vulnerable youth wishing to attend their LGBTQ+ drop in centres. Culture Link in Toronto offers a bike loan program to new immigrants (Culture Link, 2017); In Edmonton, a free transit program was introduced in 2015 to increase vulnerable youths’ access to services (Kent, 2015).
Currently Halton Region has two programs that address some transportation barriers for youth and other vulnerable populations.
However, it is important to note that we did not discover these two programs through our research participants.
This leads us to believe that these programs need to be more widely disseminated.
1. Subsidized Passes for Low Income Transit (SPLIT)[1] in Burlington, Milton and Oakville (subsidizes the cost of the pass by 50% and can vary according to Municipality)
-Ontario Works
-ODSP
-Private and Government Sponsored Refugees
2. Youth Taxi SCRIP[2] Program
- Available in Halton Hills to youth between the ages of 13-19
- Youth must register
- 40% discount on regular taxi fares
[1] For more information about SPLIT: http://halton.ca/cms/One.aspx?portalId=8310&pageId=66709#TransitSubsidy
[1] For more information about the SCRIP program: http://www.haltonhills.ca/transit/youthTaxiScrip.php
