Jenn Coffey: Trapped by a lack of transportation
What would you do if you lost the ability to drive tomorrow?
For most of my life, I never had to ask that question. I was an EMT, a former New Hampshire legislator, and a person who lived life at full speed. I earned a citation from the Massachusetts House of Representatives for working to save lives as a teenager and spent two decades in intensive cardiac and emergency medicine. I was the person lifting others, never imagining a day when I couldn’t lift myself into a car.
But at 42, that’s exactly what happened.
After a battle with breast cancer and three surgeries, I was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). It’s a rare and devastating illness, bringing with it involuntary limb movements and debilitating spasms. The result? I can no longer drive safely.
Suddenly, my world shrank. The freedom I took for granted vanished. Endless medical appointments became a logistical nightmare, and a simple Sunday dinner with friends required me to ask for a ride. While I’m grateful for services that help, the reality is that I can’t just board a bus and go, not like people in Boston or New York can. For many in our community, public transit is unreliable and often nonexistent.
This isn’t a problem that affects just me. Lack of reliable transportation traps people in cycles of suffering, leading to missed medical appointments and, in too many cases, premature deaths. It’s a silent crisis that hits the elderly and disabled hardest. Here in Manchester, my life is limited to business hours. Imagine what it would be like to simply be able to go out in the evening or on a weekend without having to ask for a ride.
We all deserve safe, reliable service. It’s time our policymakers in Washington and Concord stopped treating public transit in small cities like Manchester as an afterthought.
For too long, the conversation about public transit has been dominated by places like New York and Chicago. And while millions rely on those systems, we’re ignoring the needs of smaller communities — the places where most Americans actually live.
A national report from Transit Works for America confirms what we already know: transit is not a luxury reserved for big cities. There are more than 300 communities like ours with populations between 50,000 and 200,000, and we all deserve affordable, reliable mobility.
It’s time to take small cities seriously. The benefits — economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental resilience — are too important to ignore. Let’s invest in transit where it’s needed most: not just in the bright lights of the big cities, but in the everyday places we call home.