People with disabilities in Orillia will now be able to hail a unique kind of cab.
Able Taxi is the first cab operator in the city to have a fully-accessible, on-demand taxi cab.
Police Services Board Chair Rick Fraracci says John Kerr from Jim Wilson’s Chevrolet made a vehicle available after reading the story in the newspaper.
He says Kerr contacted each broker and it came down to two operators competing for the vehicle before John Beck of Able Taxi purchased it without test-driving it.
Fraracci says this is an opportunity for the taxi industry to assist people with challenges in their life.
He says the OWLS service currently operates in Orillia for those with disabilities but there is a good chunk during the week when the service is unavailable.
Fraracci says this accessible taxi cab will be exempt from their by-law which states cabs must be taken out of operation after 7 years of service.
He says the operators didn’t ask for anything else and the police services board agree to it.
Fraracci hopes to have accessible cabs for the other two brokers operating the city by the end of the year.
