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In 2006, Niagara Region launched its Niagara Specialized Transit, its only inter-municipal transit service, which offers transportation only to persons with disabilities traveling from one municipality to another to attend medical appointments. Trip purposes have since expanded to include employment and educational trips, although eligibility for this service continues to exclude most persons with disabilities, as well as older persons who had to reduce or give up on driving. The criteria is fairly restrictive, citing that a person is eligible only if they are unable to walk 175 meters or board a “conventional” transit vehicle.

Need for Inter-City Transit is Well Documented Most newspapers in Niagara have editorially backed the need for a regional transit service. After all, Niagara Region is the only incorporated regional municipality in Ontario that does not have a regional transit service. Almost all jobs, regardless of industry, that pay much more than minimum, seek only candidates with a driver’s license and vehicle. Regardless of qualifications or education, the only jobs available in Niagara to non-drivers are unskilled, low-wage labour. While employers are ostensibly required to structure their jobs to accommodate people with disabilities, including those that cannot drive due to medical conditions or treatments, the tendency is to avoid this, possibly because of poor transportation alternatives in the area https://git.industra.space/clarkkent4191/clarkkent419/issues/12

While part of the reason is lack of jobs, many leave due to transportation costs. About the Niagara Region The Niagara Region is 1,896 square kilometers (or 715 square miles) and has a population of approximately half a million people (including students). The Region is made up of twelve individual municipalities, ranging in size from the City of St. Catharines (with 132,000 people) to Wainfleet (approx. 6,600 people). Demographically, the region has the second oldest population among its people, next to Victoria, BC. Much of its youth population are students that attend post-secondary education. Niagara Region is served by two post-secondary institutions, Niagara College and Brock University, both of which have recently expanded and provide a broad range of academic and practical programs to its students. In recent months, Brock University has announced a partnership with the City of St. Catharines to relocate its school of fine arts to the downtown core and to support a Centre for Performing Arts, also downtown. Reference https://kruthai.com/read-blog/57024

Brock is attempting to engineer research opportunities, particularly in the area of health sciences. Niagara College is attempting to work on cultivating an emerging multi-media industry, as well as its large range of hospitality and culinary programs. Young People and Non-Drivers are Disadvantaged in Niagara However, Niagara Region cannot keep its young people. Many older people are also finding it hard to live in the Region as well, as its manufacturing base continues to cut jobs with fewer jobs available that would even nearly replace the worker’s previous salary. A significant portion of its population remains on Ontario Works or Ontario Disability Support Program and for longer periods of time than the provincial average. Despite the presence of two excellent post-secondary educational facilities (as well as several private colleges), Niagara Region still remains among those with the lowest number of permanent residents with a completed post-secondary education. Retrieved from https://network.counselindia.com/read-blog/49444