The company that operates Charlottetown buses says it has a homegrown solution to a problem that has limited transit access for Islanders with disabilities.

'One of the huge issues that people with disabilities face is isolation.'— Marcia Carroll, P.E.I. Council of the Disabled

Every Charlottetown Transit bus has a ramp that slides out when the driver presses a button. But the ramp is easily jammed by ice or dirt. If it gets stuck while the ramp is out, the bus can't move.

Mike Cassidy, owner of transit operator Trius Tours, said other transit systems in Canada have had the same trouble with the ramps. Rather than deal with it, many simply don't stop for wheelchairs anymore.

But Cassidy believes he has manufactured a simple solution: a manually-operated ramp.

"All our drivers have to do is literally pick up the ramp lift, and drop it down very easily on the curb, and it is a maintenance-free solution to the problem," he said.

Cassidy plans to test the new ramp on one bus within the next few weeks. If it works, the rest of the fleet will soon be outfitted with his made-on-P.E.I. solution. And he might not stop there.

"I'm getting bold enough that if this works, I'd like to take it right straight across this country," he said.

Marcia Carroll, head of the P.E.I. Council of People with Disabilities, is also hoping Cassidy has finally found a solution, but said Trius Tours has had three years to fix the problem.

"One of the huge issues that people with disabilities face is isolation," Carroll told CBC News Wednesday.

"Public transit would be a very affordable way for them to address that issue. However, that's not the case if they can't get on the bus."