Special line, more training to improve taxi service after Coquitlam senior left stranded

COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) – A Coquitlam cab company says it’s creating a special phone line for customers with special needs after admitting it “dropped the ball” when it left an elderly woman in a wheelchair waiting for hours in the rain on Canada Day.

Bel-Air Taxi met with Coquitlam’s Mayor Richard Stewart Wednesday afternoon to figure out what happened between when Merle Smith booked her taxi around 8 p.m. and when it finally arrived at midnight. Stewart suggested the company create the dedicated phone number.

“They’ve committed to installing some kind of additional phone number to those regular patrons that have significant mobility disabilities, so that they can reach out when something has gone wrong and try to find a quick solution,” Stewart said.

Bel-Air says it hopes to have the line up and running within the next couple days.

Smith says Merle Smith, 70, pre-booked a taxi to pick her up at 9 p.m. following the fireworks at Lafarge Lake at Town Centre Park, but the cab never showed up.

Bel-Air manager Shawn Bowden said the call was received, but dispatchers failed to assign a driver. He said when the company receives calls for wheelchair accessible taxis, the call is flagged and manually assigned to the closest available designated vehicle, but in Smith’s case, the request fell to the wayside.

“We pulling in all our dispatchers again for more training,” he said, adding the company is also changing its computer system to highlight wheelchair requests with a special code and a built-in warning system to alert dispatchers of problems.

However, Stewart says he was told a driver was assigned and simply failed to show up. He says the company seemed genuinely remorseful about the incident, but notes attitudes in general about accepting rides for people with disabilities need to change.

“That’s the possibility that offends me and I hear it over and over again from former taxi drivers and insiders in other communities and here that the drivers simply want to earn the most fare as possible and a wheelchair fair is one that slows them down tremendously,” he said,

Stewarts notes taxi issues, including cases where drivers have refused to pick up a passenger because of where they were going, will be discussed at the next council meeting.