Joy main driver behind BUSIT's disability concession

Joy Ho has always been a regular bus user around Hamilton. Unable to drive because of her disability, the bus is Joy’s key means of transport unless she relies on someone else to drive her.

Originally from Taiwan, where public transport is free for people living with disabilities, Joy often wondered why New Zealand didn’t offer the same concession for the disabled community here.

“It’s already challenging travelling when you live with a disability and I wanted to change this and give our disabled community more independence,” says Joy.

She launched a petition in 2018, gathering more than 2500 signatures in support of creating a disability concession for Hamilton’s BUSIT services. She presented the petition along with a submission to Waikato Regional Council’s Regional Public Transport Plan. 

“With a part-time job at the time, the bus was my only means of travel to work. It’s relatively expensive to get around the city when you actually don’t earn much.”

Joy’s petition and her submission was the impetus our council needed to launch a disability concession on all its BUSIT services, including the routes to Cambridge and Te Awamutu, the Northern Connector, the Morrinsville and Paeroa service, and the Raglan service.

It is the first concession of its kind in New Zealand, and we have since added a plus one card allowing caregivers to also travel for free. 

The free travel is available to anyone who has an impairment that means they cannot drive. The personal concession cards, known as Bee Accessibility Cards, are issued through an application process that includes an assessment carried out by either a disability agency or GP.

Since their launch in 2019, more than 2000 cards have been issued to members of Hamilton’s disability community. Joy was the very first card holder.

“We are very grateful for the concession cards. It’s one less thing we have to worry about, and it is certainly giving our disabled community more independence,” says Joy.

The petition led Joy to visit many disability service organisations throughout Hamilton to obtain their support and she says the project influenced her passion to work in the disability sector.

Since her petition and submission to council, Joy is now employed by Life Unlimited Charitable Trust as an account officer, and she is also the Waikato representative at the Disabled Persons Assembly New Zealand.

Her new mission is to see the concession cards rolled out nationwide.

“I want to see public transport concession cards for people living with disabilities rolled out across New Zealand. I think there is a willingness to do it, we just need more people talking about it.”