Re: Bus drivers balk at route announcing (News, April 16)
The hallmark of a just society is how much accommodation it makes for those of us who are marginalized from the mainstream, whether such marginalization arises from ethnicity, religion, or physical or mental disability.
However, these accommodations should also be practical and reasonable in all the circumstances.
B.C. Transit’s recent ruling compelling Victoria bus drivers to call out all bus stops on their routes to accommodate passengers who are visually impaired is neither reasonable nor practical.
Fortunately, the number of people suffering visual impairment is remarkably low, and it is more than likely that about 95 percent of the time drivers will never even have visually impaired persons on their buses for weeks, if not months, at a time.
Does it not make far greater sense if visually impaired passengers -- whose impairment is often quite obvious as they board the bus (the white cane is one obvious giveaway) -- simply informed the drivers that they wanted off at a certain stop? The drivers would then make a point of calling out those stops when they came to them.
The above-suggested modification of B.C. Transit’s ruling makes a lot more sense and should satisfy everyone.
Barry Gaetz
Victoria