Nashua, NH – I live in Nashua, NH and have been active with the New Hampshire Developmental Disability Quality Council and Disability Rights Council NH. I’m on the autism spectrum and have heart disease so I use buses, Medicaid transportation, Uber, Lyft, and taxis to get around.
I’m a strong advocate for myself and others and have won 2 statewide advocacy awards. I even helped win real dental benefits in New Hampshire when the only thing you could get done was have a tooth pulled.
I’ve been riding the bus in Nashua since 2011 but buses don’t always run when I need them or where I need them.
For example, I take yoga at the YMCA. From 6am to 12noon, the bus drops me off at the door of the YMCA but in the afternoon, it drops me off much farther away. It’s just not safe for me to walk that distance especially when there is a heat advisory or when the sidewalks are covered with snow and ice because of my medical condition.
Even walking to the bus stop from my apartment building is dangerous for me because the stop is too far away and the sidewalks aren’t kept clear.
Nashua is the 2nd largest city in New Hampshire but there is no straight bus to Concord. I would have to transfer in Manchester but the bus between Nashua and Manchester only runs every 2 hours and it just doesn’t work to get me there and back in time to do what I need to do.
Medicaid transportation works sometimes but not others. I’ve had to wait 45 minutes or an hour after I was supposed to be picked up and then was very late for my next meeting because of it. Now I have to use S&K Taxi which requires me to email my service coordinator a week in advance which is difficult since the weather changes quickly.
I don’t drive and really need to be able to get around to medical appointments and to participate in important meetings. If our public transit system, including medical transport, ran more frequently, to more places I would have the freedom to get where I need to go efficiently, on time without wasting hours every day.