#40953 - 05/28/06 12:14 AM
Re: Mass Transit - Depend on Bus? - Not a chance!!!!
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SamTheStudent
Member
Registered: 04/04/05
Posts: 160
Loc: SXSW
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Originally posted by Xuxan:
I believe we should use mass transit more - but not until mass transit is safe and reliable - which it is not.
Susan
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#40955 - 05/28/06 02:16 AM
Re: Mass Transit - Depend on Bus? - Not a chance!!!!
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Simon01
Member
Registered: 05/04/06
Posts: 89
Loc: san Antonio
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You've hit on the main reason most people, AB or disabled, avoid public transportation when possible. San Antonio has accessable buses but disabled riders have encountered many of the same problems you've described. I've heard about how over the past few years the transit authority has busted quite a few of its drivers for either pulling away from a stop when a w/c user wheels up to the bus, or worse, speeding past a stop when they see a w/c user waiting. That combined with a lack of access at bus stops or poor access at a location where someone ultimately heading have made it a problem the transit authority seems to understand- but not a lot has been done to improve things. A lot of areas of the city just aren't served well by the bus service in general, and many parts of the city don't have sidewalks along streets, let alone the curb cuts a w/c user needs. Many stops are merely a sign planted in the dirt or rough ground next to the street. And then there's the problem of a *long* distance between the bus stop and a person's home- as well as a long distance from the stop "closest" to where ever they're actually going. Never mind the safety issue of traversing a large parking area or wheeling out in the heat that's magnified by the expanse of pavement one might have to wheel across.
The transit authority also runs the city's wheelchair van service, and that does take people right to their destinations, and while for the most part they do a decent job, there are still problems of convenience and reliability that people run into a little too often.
I think for both types of transportation many of the problems stem from people assuming too much in advance in regards to what "disability" or "access" really means. Making a bus user friendly for w/c users is pointless if they can't get from the bus to whatever building they're trying to get to, or from their home to the bus stop.
Beyond that, there's a huge problem with people assuming that disabled persons automatically "know better" than to complain, so it's assumed that we're more likely to not say anything about making things better.
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#40956 - 05/28/06 05:21 AM
Re: Mass Transit - Depend on Bus? - Not a chance!!!!
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walkin and rollin
Member
Registered: 09/27/04
Posts: 417
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The only times rollin hasn't gotten the bus he wants is when both WC bays are already occupied. Then, the drivers stop and tell him why he can't get on. Very rarely a bus will be more than ten minutes late. He did get stuck on a lift for a good ten minutes once, but even then the other riders didn't bitch much. Eugene's bus system is free for students and people over 70, and half price for the disabled. Rollin can get a three month pass for 48.00, and I ride free when I'm with him.
When I was living in Cal, I rode the bus to work in Silicon Valley. I worked for a large company that promoted alternate transport and I told my boss I rode the bus, and I might be late once in a while. It wasn't an issue. Once a month there was a meeting I could not be late for, so I'd usually take an earlier bus that day.
Beyond that, there's a huge problem with people assuming that disabled persons automatically "know better" than to complain.
In Eugene, everyone complains. It's intellectual exercise for some.
The latest tempest in a teapot involves an email one city worker sent to another, who happens to be his wife. He mistakenly copied to everyone, so his subject received a copy too. Big hue and cry, taking of sides, wahhwahhwahh, all over two words, about a city councillor (sp) who was out of town. The words? "She's baaack".
walkin
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