The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) today announced that its Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations (ATPDR) are now finalized.
The regulations consolidate the CTA's various accessibility instruments -six voluntary codes and two regulations - to create a single, robust, legally binding set of accessible transportation regulations.
The ATPDR require transportation service providers to:
meet the communication needs of travellers with disabilities.
train transportation workers to provide assistance to travellers with disabilities.
comply with technical requirements regarding aircraft, trains, ferries, buses and terminals (such as airports).
provide accessible services.
make border and security screening accessible.
Most provisions of the ATPDR will come into force on June 25, 2020 while other more complex requirements will be phased-in over three years.
The final regulations reflect input received by the CTA from persons with disabilities and the industry, including members of the CTA's Accessibility Advisory Committee, as well as the general public. A first phase of consultations was held for a two-year period between 2016 and 2018, and a 30-day comment period was held following the publication of draft regulations on March 9, 2019.
The regulations are part of the CTA's Regulatory Modernization Initiative (RMI), a review of all the regulations and guidelines the CTA administers.
Quote
"The enactment of these groundbreaking regulations promises to make travel significantly easier for people with a wide range of disabilities. The CTA is committed to undertaking a program of education, monitoring, and enforcement to ensure that this promise is realized."
Scott Streiner, Chair and CEO of the Canadian Transportation Agency
Reference material
About the Agency
The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator that has, with respect to all matters necessary for the exercise of its jurisdiction, all the powers of a superior court. The CTA has three core mandates: helping to keep the national transportation system running efficiently and smoothly, protecting the fundamental right of persons with disabilities to accessible transportation services, and providing consumer protection for air passengers. To help advance these mandates, the CTA makes and enforces ground rules that establish the rights and responsibilities of transportation service providers and users and level the playing field among competitors, resolves disputes using a range of tools from facilitation and mediation to arbitration and adjudication, and ensures that transportation providers and users are aware of their rights and responsibilities and how the CTA can help them.
Contacts
Canadian Transportation Agency
Media Relations
Tel.: 819-934-3448
