Most people in the Northern Rivers don't think twice about how they'll get to the supermarket to do the shopping. However, for Peter Sullivan, who has Multiple Sclerosis and has spent the last 15 years in a wheelchair, just getting out of the house has proven to be problematic and expensive.

Peter, who lives in Alstonville, has to rely on Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles (WAVs) to help him get out and about, so the recent acquisition of another WAV by Northern Rivers Community Transport (NRCT) has been welcomed by him and other members of the MS community.

"My wife and I used to go to the shopping square a couple of times a week, but as my MS progressed I wasn't able to transfer from my wheelchair into a conventional car and started to use taxis a lot ," Peter said.

NRCT's WAV fleet along with the fleet at Tweed Byron/Ballina Community Transport is mainly used to help people with disabilities get to medical appointments or for group outings, which means that if Peter needs to travel for any other reason, he has to rely on taxis. The cost of a taxi fare to Lismore to do some shopping can cost him $70 and the unaffordability of a return trip means he often chooses not to go out.

"We might go out one day every month at best," Peter said. "When my condition got to the point I needed additional physiotherapy it was costing me $370 for my return trips every week. I got a shock. It's impossible to do this and many people give up. The more I looked at it, I realised it was wrong ."

Peter became a member of the Disability Transport Taskforce and has been campaigning for the last two years for the government to address transport accessibility and affordability issues for people with disabilities. After conducting a survey of the North Coast MS community, the Taskforce found that the number of people with disabilities in the area was growing and that similar problems were being experienced by people using mobility aids.   As well as problems of lack of availability, unsuitable design, long waiting times and prohibitive cost of transport, there was a growing problem of isolation as people couldn't afford to travel or didn't know where to get help.

While some people with disabilities have access to the NSW government's Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme (TTSS) which allows a 50% reduction in taxi travel costs for trips not exceeding $30, many people are still not aware of the services available to help them in NSW. The Disability Transport Taskforce's survey showed that the $30 ceiling on the subsidy made travelling by taxi for any long distances unaffordable.

" I stay at home more and I need to get out into the community; the isolation is creeping up now," Peter said. "The Northern Rivers is a large rural area and distance is a big issue. Medical specialists are further afield and trips to the Gold Coast can cost people hundreds of dollars. There are not enough WAVs here to service everyone who needs to use them."

Local taxi companies in Casino and Lismore have responded to the need for more Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles by acquiring more WAVs in their fleet. Casino Cabs now have four WAVs and Lismore Taxis have three. Director of Casino Cabs, Ashley Clark-Smith said in 1997, his father pioneered the first WAV on the North Coast at a cost of $60,000.

"Today, it can cost up to $40,000 to convert a vehicle to full wheelchair accessibility," Ashley said. "We have to fit an electronic hoist and the floors need to be strengthened to take the weight of the hoist, and it's expensive to maintain."

While having taxi companies on side providing transport options for people with disabilities is a great start to addressing the problem, Peter believes the problem goes beyond being a transport issue and is in fact a disability issue that should be taken up by all levels of government and the community.

"We need to go beyond cabs and look at what other vehicles are available in the community ," Peter said. " I'm interested in why Council and other bodies don't include WAVs in their fleet . The Department of Disability does not have one vehicle that can accommodate people with a disability. When an organisation is investing in a vehicle, why not choose a flexible option and get a WAV. They are adaptable and can look like normal sedans . At the moment, it's all on the cabs to solve the problem and they are doing their best to address it."

Northern Rivers Community Transport manager, Colleen Thomas said NRCT's new wheelchair accessible vehicle is suited to doing individual trips and people can book the vehicle if they have their own driver.

"The WAV was funded by the Department of Aging and Disability and it will comfortably take a wheelchair and family members, or two wheelchairs if needed," Colleen said. "While we don't have enough vehicles or drivers to meet all our needs, we do have a partnership with Casino Cabs and Lismore Taxis and can provide people with disabilities and frail, elderly people with taxi vouchers. This enables them to attend support groups and to visit loved ones and can be used in conjunction with the usual Taxi Transport Subsidy Scheme."

For Peter Sullivan , acquiring more WAVs is just a start to making the Northern Rivers more accessible for people in wheelchairs. He would like to see introduced new ways of managing transport for people with disabilities, including changing the transport subsidy scheme to better serve people in wheelchairs and providing more incentives for companies to invest in WAVs.

" A strong voice is needed for disability groups," Peter said. "There are a lot of people in need who are not able to advocate for themselves. People with MS get fatigued and tend not to take on challenges. I was fit and able once and now I've moved to the disability sector, I can see something is very wrong."