Cape Breton is planning to expand a transportation service for people with disabilities.

Cape Breton Handi-Trans is a wheelchair-accessible bus to help people who can't use the regular bus.

Previously, passengers had to be within 2,500 feet of a regular bus stop. But new proposal would expand that area.

Dorothy Morgan, a 73-year-old Glace Bay woman, will soon require dialysis treatment and said she was happy the bus would now take her there. She had previously been turned down because she lived outside the boundary lines.

"A lot of stress and strain and worry off my mind," she said Thursday. "It's going to be my lifeline when I go on dialysis."

Mike MacDeigan, transit manager for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, said that boundary is now expanded.

"We will pick up people within those areas, so we are not by passing people along the way," he explained.

The service is also increasing its hours of operation. Council will be presented with the changes in the fall.

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