Midland man campaigns to create accessible taxi service

CTV Barrie: Accessible taxi in Midland A Midland man in a wheelchair is pushing to bring an accessible taxi to Midland. KC Colby has his story.

A Midland man is doing all he can to help people in wheelchairs get around more easily.

He’s lobbying and fundraising to get a wheelchair taxi in town and support is growing.

Jeff Fillingham says he's like any other 21-year-old guy – he likes hanging out with his buddies and going places. Living with cerebral palsy and getting around in Midland with a wheelchair is manageable with accessible community transportation, that is until the evening and weekends when that service stops and Fillingham says he ends up stuck at home, unable to get around to do anything.

“Well there's the groceries and other shopping,” he says. “I like to go to the movies, go to friends’, and you can't do that on the weekends.”

Fillingham took his concerns online, and created a Facebook page dedicated to securing a wheelchair-accessible taxi.

“I had 100 hits the first day,” he says.

Central Taxi owner Tony Deguglielmo heard about what Fillingham was doing and was impressed.

“I just met Jeff and I liked him, liked his enthusiasm, so I thought, yeah let’s do this,” he says.

Degugliemo put up $20,000 to secure a van and accessible parts, but the retrofit for the van will be another $7,500 dollars. Fillingham took it upon himself to raise the money and has come up with about $2,000 dollars. Midland Mayor Gord McKay says Fillingham's vision is commendable.

“Too many people come and say I've got an idea for a problem and they point to the government to fix it,” McKay says. “Jeff is one of those unique individuals who says I'm willing to go to bat for this, I'm willing to help fix this.”

And Midland is not the only community that would benefit.

“For Penetanguishene it could be fantastic,” says Stacey Cooper with the Town of Penetanguishene. “So if he's tackling this, great. And I think everyone will be thrilled to be able to use it.”

If you're interested in helping Fillingham and others with the area’s first and only wheelchair-accessible taxi, the Royal Bank in Midland has set up a special account and transit number: RBC Royal Bank, Midland, transit # 03082-003, and account # 5116173.