There’s a new transportation option for vulnerable residents in Simcoe County.
Five non-profit community agencies have come together to create the Community Transportation (CT) Link.
It will provide safe door-to-door transportation for older adults and people with disabilities from all of the agencies on a single website.
The services can be used to get to scheduled medical appointments, social activities and to run essential errands like grocery shopping.
With the rise of the Omicron variant, there is a surge in community members requiring transportation to COVID-19 booster shot appointments. Community transportation providers in Simcoe County have partnered together to better serve these vulnerable populations and provide an easy way to request accessible transportation services online.
When visiting the website, simply click “Request Transportation” and type in your home address. You will be instantly matched with a community transportation provider that can pick you up at home and take you to your destination, whether it’s getting your booster shot at a local vaccine clinic, or a longer trip to a scheduled medical appointment in Toronto.
If a transportation provider cannot accommodate your ride, they will leverage a back-end portal where ride requests are shared across the five partner agencies, making sure that all residents of Simcoe County are provided with equal opportunity to accessible transportation options.
CT Link agencies include Helping Hands (Orillia), Canadian Red Cross Simcoe Muskoka (Barrie), Community Reach (Midland), BANAC (Ramara) and CHATS (South Simcoe). CT Link is supported by the County of Simcoe and funded by the Government of Ontario through the Community Transportation Grant Program and Caredove, who provides the software platform and ongoing project coordination.
“Our government is pleased to support the CT Link through the Community Transportation Grant Program which is providing funding for transportation services in 38 communities across Ontario,” said Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation. “CT Link is a great example of the essential services the program is providing in communities with limited public transportation services.”