TRANSIT STORIES

New Orleans, LA: Ride New Orleans My name is Timothy Cardner, and I am a musician, barista, and board member of Ride New Orleans. I moved to New Orleans to study music at the University of New Orleans in 2017, and graduated in 2022.  My first experience with transit was taking the 55 Elysian Fields bus from UNO to my job at Cafe du Monde in the French Quarter. My shifts ended between midnight and 1 am, meaning that sometimes I would have to wait until 3 am for a bus. Other times I just waved down a cab. I own a car now, but the cost of parking and gas make it too expensive to drive every day. I save my car for when I’m transporting music equipment or when I’m leaving town. For everything else, I rely on the RTA. I now work at Cafe Beignet on Canal Street, where parking my car for a single shift would cost me over two hours of work. To get to work I catch the crowded 9 Broad bus at 5:50 am and take it to Canal Street, where a handful of riders and I transfer to the streetcar. The buses

Detroit, MI: Detroit People’s Platform I am Marcel Goudeaux-Stanley, and I live just outside of Detroit. My nephews are twelve and fifteen years old and love to hang out with me and listen to music or talk about sports. I went to Berklee College of Music and play keyboards and piano in a local R&B band. When I lived in Boston, I took transit everywhere the buses and trolleys came regularly. I didn’t have to wait to get to where I needed to go. But back here in Detroit, there is a big difference. I have been riding the bus for about twelve years, ever since I was in a car accident. The good part is that it’s inexpensive and convenient. The bad is that I have to wait a lot longer to catch the bus and to get to where I need to go, but at least I can listen to my music as I ride.   When I’m not rehearsing or listening to other musicians, I work in food service. I mostly use the Route 125 bus to go to work. It is only a ten minute drive but the bus stop is about a ten minute walk.

District of Columbia: Community Health Manager I am Andrea Miranda, Community Health Outreach Manager at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. I lead our Community Health initiatives and programs and address the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) needs our community faces every day. Transportation is a common barrier our patients face on a daily basis. Our patients rely on various modes of transit to get to their doctors appointments, surgeries, follow ups, screenings as well as community clinics, grocery stores, and recreation centers. Barriers to transportation directly Impact the health outcomes of the community. Our team of Community Health Advocates work with these high need patients to address their social barriers every day and have shared the qualms of the community.  Many patients especially the elderly, must have reliable transportation options available to them. This population is at higher risk of falls, chronic disease and therefore the access to care is pertinent. Our team was working with a patient who was in her 80s who had multiple health issues and was having difficulty getting to and from appointments. Our team was able to set up a ride and helped her apply for Metro access to get to her healthcare appointments, but she

New York, NY: Riders Alliance My name is Judy Wang, and I live in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Investing in good pubilc transit is a cause that is close to my heart, one that has made a significant impact on my family’s life, and one that is essential to millions of New Yorkers who rely every day on buses and subways to get them where they need to go. And that is the need for frequent, reliable, and affordable public transit. I use buses every day to take me to work, to job interviews, and appointments. My neighborhood has very limited subway access and is primarily served by buses. Unfortunately, the buses are slow, unreliable, and don’t come frequently enough. All my jobs were in Manhattan, and I had to rely on the Q64 to get me to the nearest train station, then transfer between multiple subway lines to finally get to my destination. The bus I take is always stuck in morning traffic, so an otherwise 15 minute bus ride could balloon to 30-45 minutes instead. The Q64 is also experiencing a driver shortage, so I often had to wait between 20 – 30 minutes for the next bus to

Columbus, OH: Move OH My name is Stevie Pasamonte, and my family and I have relied on public transit since we immigrated to the United States from the Philippines in 1992. Over thirty years later, my mother, my sister, and I all live in Columbus, Ohio. I moved here in 2009 for school, and my family followed me a couple years later so that we could remain close to one another. Let me tell you a little about the three of us:  My mother is a disabled war veteran. She joined the U.S. Military when I was a teenager in an effort to provide for our family, earn college funding for her children, and gain U.S. citizenship. As a result of injuries sustained during her service, she has a lot of difficulty with mobility. She uses the COTA bus to visit my sister and me during the week, often stopping by to make me lunch while I’m busy with work. While she only lives five miles from me, it takes her 45 minutes to get to my home by bus.  My sister lives closer to my mom—only three and a half miles away. But when my mom visits my sister, it

Pittsburgh, PA: Pittsburghers for Public Transit I lived my whole life in Pittsburgh and have raised five children here. I grew up in my grandmother’s home, and she was a big influence on me. My godfather was Bishop Gamble, who was the pastor of The Covenant Whosoever Will Church of God in Christ. They both taught me that ‘a life in service to others is a life worth living. Being able to hop on a bus and get around town is incredibly important to me. I’ve been catching the bus since I was seven years old. I used to buy a ‘weekend pass’ that only cost $3 at that time. That allowed me to travel all around the city, so I could visit my friends and my extended family.  Nowadays, I use the bus for everything…to go to work, to go to school, and to go with my youngest son, Judah, for his doctor’s appointments. Judah has Down Syndrome. Getting to those appointments are really important for his overall health. I’ve worked at a number of jobs that have ranged from the VA Hospital, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the Pittsburgh Gazette, and McDonalds. I now work in home health care and