Standards for accessible transportation

How the Agency makes transportation accessible

It's the Agency's responsibility to ensure that everyone enjoys the same access to travel. 

The Agency ensures that any undue obstacles to the mobility of persons with disabilities are removed from transportation services and facilities under its jurisdiction. This includes passenger terminals and airplanes, trains, and passenger ferries and buses that cross a provincial or Canadian border.

The Agency removes undue obstacles in three ways:

1. on a case-by-case basis by resolving accessibility complaints; and
2. on a systemic basis by developing regulations, codes of practice and standards and monitoring compliance.
3. on an on-going basis by educating persons with disabilities and service providers about their rights and responsibilities.

Responsibilities of service providers

For persons with disabilities travelling within the federal transportation network, service providers must:

• ensure that persons with disabilities have equal access to federal transportation services;
• accommodate persons with disabilities, up to the point of undue hardship;
• provide accommodation in a manner that respects the dignity of persons with disabilities; and
• provide accommodation which considers persons' unique disability-related needs.

Responsibilities of passengers

Persons with disabilities who require accommodation are expected to:

• make their disability-related needs known to the service provider;
• give the service provider adequate notice of their disability-related needs;
• provide a reasonable opportunity for the service provider to provide the required accommodation (for example, persons with disabilities may have to arrive at a terminal earlier in order to allow time for assistance with boarding, and may be required to wait for deboarding assistance); and
• take necessary measures to mitigate accessibility issues as they do in their daily living.