Disabled taxi handicapped

Where do you park a taxi for the disabled? It's not a trick question - but it's a tricky answer. Joseph Barratt finds out why
"Sorry lass, we can't pull up outside. We've had to park 200m that way,' says the driver to the woman in the wheelchair.
Pushing and pulling the wheelchair over kerbs past the disabled parking spots, the driver manages to help his disabled customer to the van.
It happens all the time and it is frustrating, says the only specialist disabled mobility company in Auckland, Re-li-on-us.
Because disabled parking cards are issued only to people with disabilities, Re-li-on-us misses out on card-carrying membership - despite providing mobility to the people who need it most.
For Barbara Broome, the mobility service has changed her life.
``It means I can hold down my job and turn up to meetings on time. I depend on them to get around.'
She says there are still some big gaps in aid for the disabled. Despite improved access in many areas, some disabled people still are unable to catch buses or trains. For instance, says Re-li-on-us owner and driver Gary Todd: ``If a man has a broken neck, you don't want them catching a bumpy bus or rickety train.'
The problem is, his vans cannot provide a door-to-door service without using mobility car parks.
``We need to be delivering as near as possible to the destinations,' Mr Todd says. ``You can't have someone with a severe disability in a wheelchair wheeling through the parking lot.'
But when drivers do tempt fate and park closer, they are fined. Chris Ross, marketing manager for Re-li-on-us, says the firm has a pile of parking tickets in the office more than an inch thick, with each one costing $150.
Mobility cards are issued through CCS Disability Services which says it empathises with Mr Todd but there is a danger in giving mobility cards to a registered taxi company, even though it is disability-focused.
Candy Smith, Northern region team leader for CCS, says there is already a shortage of mobility parking in the city and giving dispensations to individual taxi services is the wrong approach.
``It would be far better for us team up and lobby councils and developers for more drop-off zones,' she says. ``It is more than just the disabled community. There are also elderly people and parents with prams where a drop-off area close to the entrance would help.
``We can't keep impacting on already-limited disabled parking when there is the bigger issue the community needs to address of get ting developers of malls and shop ping centres to provide more drop- off zones.'
GROUNDS FOR COMPLAINT Parking is even more of a problem at hospitals, says Re-li-on-us owner Gary Todd.
Hospitals across the Auckland region give access to selected taxi companies on a contract basis but don't take disabilities into account, he says, adding that hospitals often permit taxi companies that might only have one or two vehicles in their fleet that can carry disabled people.
One hospital in the region gave the contract to a taxi company that didn't have any vehicles that could take people with disabilities.
This means Re-li-on-us has to pay for access to hospital parking and drivers must park hundreds of metres away from the entrance, despite transporting people who have the greatest difficulties with access.
``Again, we really need the shortest possible distance for disabled people, especially when it is to the hospital,' says Mr Todd. ``Two hundred metres is too far, especially in some cases where the person involved has to keep their core from getting too cold.'
He says the company doesn't have a problem with tendering for access to hospital grounds but thinks there should be more of a focus on people with disabilities.
``Taxis might be fine for 90 per cent of the population but the other 10 per cent need something too.'