TRANSIT STORIES

Dorchester, MA – Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that the bus starts very late on Sunday, after many people are already in church. There weren’t any other alternatives and I didn’t have money for an Uber. I ended up walking 2 miles on a bad foot.

Chesapeake, VA – When people tell me they’ll never use transit, I share this story and tell them that never is a long time, and that it never hurts to know about another way to get around.

Everett, WA – My name is Jill Reasoner, and I am a 58-year-old woman who has been legally blind since college. I raised my kids in Monroe, as we could get a bigger and more affordable house out there. In Monroe, I lived one mile from the closest bus stop, which meant that I was outside of the paratransit service area.

Minneapolis, MN – Living in downtown Minneapolis, I do a lot of walking and use public transit frequently. I walk to my job at a hotel just two blocks from my apartment. I prefer transit for most of my other trips, though getting out to the suburbs to visit my grandma is more difficult, so sometimes calling an Uber is my best bet, even though it’s much more expensive. For other trips within the city—like visiting friends or shopping at the more affordable grocery stores—I rely on public transit and it is pretty easy to get around.

Asheville, NC – The VA is where my transit journey started in Asheville. When I first got to Asheville, I would take the bus to the VA hospital, to my classes, back to my housing. But the bus didn’t come all the way to the VA hospital. Instead, it would stop about a quarter-mile walk away from the VA hospital, and one day I even waited over two hours for the bus. One of my instructors helped me find out who was responsible for the bus out to the VA, and I started advocating for my fellow veterans who used walkers and found it difficult to get all the way to the bus stop. It turned out that there was a fault in the system, and they suggested I apply to join the transit committee. So for the last eight years, I’ve been a member of the Asheville Transit Committee.

Providence, RI – I’m Vinh, a student at Brown University studying Urban Studies. I grew up in Gwinnett County, Georgia, a suburban area where getting around without a car was almost impossible. My interest in public transportation started in high school when I realized how few options there were for students who couldn’t drive. I remember walking home along a two-lane road with no sidewalks because there was no bus service to my neighborhood. That experience made me want to learn more about making transit more equitable and accessible.