City cutting bus service

Taking away their only accessible transport deepens exclusion, poverty

- KAYLYNNE BANTOM

This is the plight of Cheryl Halford, a visually-impaired woman, who will now have to find alternative means of travelling around following the City of Cape Town's announcement of significant changes to its Dial-a-Ride (DaR) service from next month.

This dedicated kerb-to-kerb service for people with disabilities unable to access mainstream public-transport services, from Monday 8 September, will be available only to eligible wheelchair users and people with severe walking impairments.

The City said in a press statement limited services were due to budget constraints.

It said the DaR service was experiencing "severe capacity challenges" where the demand exceeds the available resources.