People In Motion 2008

Again this year I went to the People In Motion show at the Queen Elizabeth Building at the CNE on June 6. Of course this is the free trade show for the disabled. Some of you may know that I am on the board of directors of the Robert Cooke Co-op in south Etobicoke. Our co-op manager Nancy Gipson accompanied me to the show this year. Though we have accessible units in the co-op, the building is now fifteen years old and as one who lives in one of those units, we have to look at upgrading the units to make them more accessible. The kitchens in particular need to be redone. They're just not very good. So Nancy came to the show to get information about contractors and we will get some quotes to do the work. Since I will be involved in this process, you can expect me to write about it in the future. Stay tuned for that.

There were a couple of new developments at the show this year. The most interesting comes from the Toronto Transit Commission. The TTC displayed a prototype of a new subway car. The biggest feature of the car is there will no longer be poles in the middle of the floor of the car. This means that it will a lot easier for a wheelchair to move around in the car. They will also have pop up seats and we'll be able to slide right into the space. So it looks pretty good. TTC Wheeltrans introduced internet trip booking at the show. Unfortunately, they didn't have a demo of the service at the show but they did give out complete instructions. So I will have to wait until I use it to determine the effectiveness of this new feature. Stay tuned for that too.

The other new product has the potential to revolutionize the accessible taxi business. Anyone who has taken a power chair on a van knows that there's not a lot of room to move around. It's a tight squeeze. And anyone who has shopped for an accessible van knows how daunting a task that is. Peter Grande is best known as the owner of World In Motion accessible transport. He also owns a leasing company and finances accessible vans. I met Peter at last year's show. Peter introduced a new concept called The Standard Taxi. The idea is to produce a more economical accessible taxi that will be much easier to operate and more passenger friendly. It looks like a Hummer. But the big thing is that it is designed to hold four passengers and a wheelchair. It has a much smaller footprint than any current van so it takes up less space while having more room for passengers. It's built much lower to the ground so the wheelchair ramp is lower than normal. And it even has a full trunk. It also has many state of the art safety features that I doon't have the space to go into. Peter says The Standard Taxi is scheduled to be available in the fall of 2009 and you can check out the website at http://www.standardtaxi.com/

Ian & Stephanie Mellor once again did a great job of staging the annual People In Motion show. Next year will be the show's 20th anniversary and will be June 5 & 6 at the Queen Elizabeth Building. I always get my new supply of pens and this year I even won a multimedia headset at the Citizens With Disabilities-Ontario booth. So thanks to those folks. Circle next year's date on your calendar. You never know what kind of products and services can help the quality of your life. See you next year.