Here in Bellingham, being green is so important and I agree that we should take care of the planet. However, it is difficult to completely succeed when the bus system does not care about all of their customers. This leads to more people not being willing to ride the bus and falling back on their cars and in my case and many others: falling back into being less independent. I do not enjoy riding the bus even though it means I have more freedom and am being more green as I'd rather not be treated poorly by a bus driver, not be allowed to get on a bus, miss a bus, or not be picked up at all, which causes me to not get to my destination.
Twice I have been discriminated by the same bus driver. The first time, I got on the Indian Street bus that was heading up to campus and this driver completely belittled me and told me that I needed special loops for my chair. It would have been fine if he would have informed me in a professional manner and actually acted as if he was concerned for my safety and not just for his job. The next time he was the bus driver that came to my stop, he let all the other students on before me and then told me that there was no room on the bus; he said I needed to be the first in line to get on the bus before anyone else so I could fit. However on this day, there was also no room under the bus stop cover, so I was sitting out in the open, on the corner of the sidewalk, right where the ramp is always lowered. He did not lower the ramp and allowed everyone to get on and then blamed me for not getting on first. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that I needed him to lower the ramp before I could get on the bus. He told me to wait for the next bus.
The other times I could not get on a bus was when ramps were broken. This has happened to me three times in the past year. I do not enjoy the sinking feeling of having to wait for the next bus. Fortunately on campus, there is another bus that comes within three to thirty minutes depending on where it is headed.
This contrasts from every other route in Bellingham that is not on or close by to either of the campuses. It could be an hour between each pick-up at each stop, and on Sundays, the bus does not even run on many routes.
Even though the city bus has some unappreciated factors, the handicap transportation is very undesirable and I am so thankful I can ride the city bus (even though I do not like it). To ride specialized transportation an appointment has to be made 24 hours in advance, so that means no spur of the moment adventures. The other thing is specialized transportation may pick up the rider up to two hours before you need to be picked up, so this means the rider has to be ready two hours earlier than necessary. A third thing is, after an appointment or outing and the rider wants to go home, the bus cannot guarantee that it will be there in a fashionable time. A person could wait many hours for the bus to come and take them home. What wonderful service!
This scenario with regards to handicap transportation does not only occur in Bellingham, but Seattle and the Tri-Cities as well. The other down fall in Seattle about the handicap transportation is the spots fill up really fast and if the time spot that the rider wants is full, they are out of luck and have to figure out a different way to get to their destination. The city busses in the Tri-Cities are not very good and the city busses in Seattle are not much better.
On the bright side, I have been informed that the busses in Spokane are well run. A handicapped person can get to where ever they need easily and anyone can get almost anywhere until 11:00 at night. Go Spokane!
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