Transit Tuesday: Marvin Martin
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.
Transit Tuesday: Mary Lou Burke
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.
Transit Tuesday: Jill Reasoner
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.
Transit Tuesday: Calli Voss
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.
Transit Tuesday: Harvey Harold
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.
Transit Tuesday: Vinh Nhu Pham
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.
Transit Tuesday: Jesse Cook
St. Paul, MN – I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for about four years while attending college, where I’m studying aerospace engineering. Originally from Colorado, I’ve experienced transit in rural, suburban, and urban settings. However, it wasn’t until I moved here that I started using transit regularly. Between buses, light rail, and biking, I can get just about anywhere I need to go without a car.
Transit Tuesday: Judy Jones
My name is Judy Jones, and I live in Sedro-Woolley in Skagit County. I am blind, due to retinopathy of prematurity. I am currently a white cane user, but I have also been a guide dog user. As blind people, my husband and I have been very independent.
I’ve been riding transit since 1979. Transit has allowed me to have a working career, to raise my kids, and to get where I need to and want to go.
Transit Tuesday: Neil Sealy
Little Rock, AR – I grew up in Durham, NC which was an easy place to get around as a kid. My sisters all got drivers licenses when they were 16 but that wasn’t an option for me since I was legally blind so I walked or bicycled on the relatively empty streets or took the bus.
Transit Tuesday: Kelly Ehrhart
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.
