TRANSIT STORIES

Aurora, CO I started going to RTD (Regional Transportation District) board meetings back in 2017. I wanted to know why bus service had gotten so unreliable, and I wanted them to fix it. At the time, I was trying very hard to get my life back on track. I’d gone through a period of mental and emotional disorders and substance abuse. I was on probation and got a job at a grocery store. I’d get off work at 10 pm, 11 pm at night and take the last bus back home. The trip took an hour on a good day. But the schedules they gave out didn’t line up with the actual service. Often the bus would come 10 or 20 minutes late, which meant missing a transfer. Sometimes the bus just wouldn’t show up at all. So, the two hours round-trip turned into four.  The explanation I kept hearing from RTD and in the news was: bus operator shortage. I was picking up my life then, making an hourly wage, with funds really tight. And, in that situation, you’re trying to build your reputation, show you’re putting your life together, start building a career. I wondered, “Will I ever

Chicago, Illinois I’m grateful to have public transportation. I grew up in a town in North Carolina in a town that only had one public bus, but it was very important for me growing up, so living in a place with transit is important to me. When I was thinking of moving to a new city, one of the factors I took into consideration was, “Does this place have a good public transit system?” This necessity was what narrowed down my options. I considered moving to Portland because I have family there and my degree is in sustainable development, but the transit system there would not meet my needs. That’s why I moved to Chicago. I believed the transportation system that exists here would work for me. I sold my car when I first moved to Chicago, before having the job that I currently do. At my previous job, I worked in the city and got around fine using transit. Then I got my current job as an Executive Director of a therapeutic equine center for families with disabilities. To get to my job, I have to commute out from the main city of Chicago and into the suburbs. Although

Atlanta, GA I am the CEO and Founder of House Of Ramirez. I am a mother of three, and I use transit for everything I do. I rely on the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s (MARTA) bus and train service to get around the city and the suburban areas. As such, being connected to different neighborhoods is important to me. From a very young age, public transportation has played a major role in my life. When I was 16 years old and in high school, I was out on my own and employed at a local mall. My school bus did not take me all the way to my job, so I would get off on the main street, walk to the opposite side, and get on a public bus. If I were to miss the connection from my school bus to public transportation for any reason, my job and livelihood would be in danger, and I would suffer. Even a slight delay leaving my high school could delay my route to work. Fortunately, my job understood my predicament and as a result, I was never fired for being tardy due to issues with transit. But I am very much

Cleveland, Ohio My name is La Queta Worley-Bell. I live in Cleveland, Ohio and I have been taking public transit all my life.  It takes me an hour to get from my house to downtown, which is where I do my shopping, pay my bills, and pick up my medication.  When train service was cut during the pandemic, made worse by lack of infrastructure maintenance, it made clear to me how much more support public transit needs to keep operating into the future. If public transit was cut any further, I would have to walk at least 6 to 8 blocks to catch the #11 bus to get downtown. This could add at least an hour to my commute given my severe mobility issues. I do not drive, and I depend on transit to live my daily life.  My partner takes transit to his factory job in the suburbs. He has to wake up at 3:00 am so that he can leave the house at 5:00 am, because his commute to Independence, Ohio takes at least two hours. When we talk about creating jobs in America, we also need to make sure people can access them through fast and reliable

Tacoma, Washington I live in a redlined community. People may know about redlining, racism, and housing segregation. But it affects what’s available to entire communities. I live in an apartment complex in a neighborhood that’s purposely structured so that you’re not going to find a school or supermarket or church or other essential services within walking distance — the kinds of things you find in close proximity in a rich, white neighborhood.  There are four wheelchair users in my apartment complex, including me — all people of color. The nearest supermarket is a Grocery Outlet more than a mile away. I had to fight for four curb cuts along the way in order to be able to get there. In a redlined community, good public transit is especially important. And, when I think about public transportation, I think about bus routes. Are they meeting our needs? As the chair of the Tacoma Area Commission on Disabilities, I also want to know if wheelchair users like me can ride the buses when we need to. I live right at the border of south Tacoma and University Place. On my side of the street, there’s sidewalk and a crosswalk. On the other

New York City, NY My name is Kim Yancey, I’m 45, and I’m a licensed social worker living in East Harlem near the 125th St 4/5/6 subway station. I have a disability and access the subway system using a power wheelchair. Having lost my job shortly before the pandemic, my efforts to reenter the workforce were complicated by the pandemic and the unreliability of elevators at subway stations.  Here’s an example – my old commute to work at Park Avenue and 20th Street would take 36 minutes if all station elevators were operational; if not, the length of my trip could stretch to 1.5 hours or more because of the diversions I need to make, and it can cost me three times more in transit fares to get home. Even if the elevators are working, passenger overcrowding – even during COVID-19 – can mean that reaching the street level from the train platform could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour because it takes two elevators to exit Given that I have worked in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx, I’ve encountered broken elevators across the city. It was constant. Multiple times a week, multiple times a day. Sometimes it’s