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Carmela with a new DATS sign

For many students, navigating a university campus can be challenging, but for those who rely on specialized transportation services like Edmonton Transit Service’s (ETS) Dedicated Accessible Transit Service (DATS), it can be even more daunting. This was the reality for Carmela Spadafora, a student at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ's Humanities 101 (HUM 101) program, who, along with her classmates, experienced firsthand the real challenges of using DATS on campus.

Each term, Community Service-Learning (CSL) hosts HUM 101 courses for adult learners on campus. These courses emphasize critical thinking in everyday life and more specific topics such as paleontology or space in Science 101. There are multiple HUM 101 learners who rely on DATS to get to and from Â鶹ÊÓƵ campus and each semester students face numerous challenges with DATS.

Dedicated staff and volunteers from CSL, including Jay Friesen (Instructor), Lisa Prins (Manager of Adult and Community Education), HUM 101 interns and volunteers worked continually to coordinate DATS pickups. Their commitment to ensuring learners could get to class often involved directing DATS drivers to the closest stops or booking new times or locations. Despite these efforts, learners were often left waiting in the cold or not able to make it to class at all. 

HUM 101 student Carmela refused to accept the status quo. Inspired by her own DATS experiences and the stories of her friends, she decided to take action by launching a survey that would become the foundation for actionable changes on campus. What began as shared frustrations among her peers at Winnifred Stewart and HUM 101 classmates, quickly evolved into a powerful act of citizen science, an approach that uses community-led research to drive meaningful change.

Feedback from DATS users, including Carmela, highlighted key areas for development to improve the DATS experience on campus. As Carmela notes, a primary issue was the lack of clear and accessible information about where to meet a DATS bus. It is difficult to find the correct doors or sidewalks to wait for DATS without clear signage. This challenge is magnified for those unfamiliar with campus, who may find it hard to identify specific locations, such as the North or South end of HUB Mall. Lynn Wade (Diverse Abilities Support Professional at Winnifred Stewart) reflects on how the physical environment of campus presented additional barriers and wayfinding challenges. DATS stops were often spaced far apart, poorly marked, unlit, or located in unsafe areas, like beside garbage bins or hard-to-find stairwells. 

Lisa explains that DATS drivers often couldn't locate HUM 101 students, leading to missed pickups and no-show penalties. Students who miss multiple pickups can have their service suspended or cut off, a harsh reality that can prevent them from attending classes. This forced students to choose between attending class and risking a no-show or waiting in precarious situations, especially during Edmonton's harsh winters. 

As noted in Carmela’s research, when you look in the classroom, people using DATS have different needs. For some people, the anxiety of a no-show can eclipse attending the class and can prevent students from fully participating in classes. This is a particularly difficult situation for those who use DATS for reasons of physical safety, anxiety, or other medical conditions. Jay highlighted the unfairness of this choice, noting that DATS no-shows are often not the user's fault but an unfortunate consequence of a flawed system. 

In October 2024, through a research process known as citizen science, Carmela, with the assistance of HUM 101 staff and volunteers conducted in-depth analysis through a survey that centred on DATS user experiences, specifically HUM 101 learners. The survey explored the top four needs of a DATS stop. 

Using this data and the City of Edmonton DATS data, Jay created a on campus. Over the Winter 2025 term, CSL students Ifeoma Iwelu and Leilu Munro went to each DATS stop and documented the identified priorities of DATS users. They conducted on-site investigations, taking photos and gathering data on the condition and location of existing DATS stops. All this data was then shared with Â鶹ÊÓƵ staff in University Services, Operations and Finance (USOF).

Carmela’s survey provided crucial data, demonstrating that her DATS challenges were shared by many. This data brought visibility to a community that had been largely overlooked and provided the evidence needed to advocate for change. Kyle Witiw, Strategic Infrastructure Planner at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, became a key partner, bringing institutional knowledge and a commitment to action. Following several meetings between DATS users and USOF and with the rich data that was collected, a set of principles of what the ideal DATS stop looks like were developed, followed by recommendations on a set of over 50 DATS stops on Â鶹ÊÓƵ campuses. The principles and recommendations were further tested with Â鶹ÊÓƵ community members and DATS. Kyle and his team are now working with DATS to implement the recommendations from Carmela's project this fall, including:

• Establishing pre-defined DATS service locations on North Campus, South Campus, Campus Saint-Jean and Enterprise Square. These have been coordinated with DATS to ensure the information that will be shared on the Â鶹ÊÓƵ website aligns with DATS' booking information and booking app. 
• Updating the DATS stop locations on Campus Maps
• Providing a searchable list of DATS stops on campus, which will be  linked of Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s DCA Hub 
• Installing signage at all vehicle stop locations to assist with user and driver wayfinding

These changes are a major step toward building the predictability and trust needed for a more reliable service that encompasses the broad spectrum of DATS users. As Lynn notes, these new DATS stop location signs can be a security blanket for DATS users, reassuring them that they are in the correct spot. 

For Carmela, the most exciting part of this project is the impact on her community. She believes that these changes will open up the campus to more students, making it a more welcoming and less stressful environment. This project is a powerful example of how community-based research and a collaborative approach can create life-making results.

As Danielle Peers (Academic Lead, Disability Cultures and Access, Office of the Vice Provost Access, Community and Belonging) observed: "If Carmela didn't have to be doing citizen science on how to get home, what other important ideas could she be researching?" This project is a testament to the idea that people with disabilities are not just recipients of help but are powerful engines of change, bringing invaluable knowledge and creative solutions to the table.

Pictured (left to right): Danielle, Lisa, Carmela, Lynn, Kyle and Jay