Governance models for rural accessible transportation: insights from Atlantic Canada

Abstract

Insufficient or lack of accessible transportation options pose significant challenges for persons with disabilities living in small rural communities who need to travel within communities for day-to-day needs and between communities to access educational, employment, medical, and recreational services in urban areas. It is more than gaining the right to accessible transportation but one of how transportation services are to be provided. This article examines governance options for rural accessible transportation in Canada’s Atlantic provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Alternative governance options for accessible transit are identified including the direct provision of services, contracting out, co-operatives, not-for-profits, community boards and taxis. Insights gleaned from interviews with service providers tease out the advantages and disadvantages of the various options and reveal a struggle to balance accountability provisions with transaction costs. Points of interest Accessible public transit is enabling and necessary for people with disabilities to live full and independent lives. Many small towns and rural communities, like those found in Atlantic Canada, lack accessible public transit due to struggling economies and aging populations. Variability exists in how other small towns provide accessible public transit including direct provision, contracting out, co-operatives, not-for-profits, community boards to accessible taxis. Local officials struggle to balance oversight provisions while minimizing the expense of negotiations.