[Ct-nfb] TRANSPORTATION

Mon Jun 20 03:55:44 UTC 2011

I had an interesting conversation with a politician in my home town.   His 
job is in my town and not at the state level.  I was telling him about  the 
situation with using the 2 transit systems and he told me to call my town  
hall.  He said to find out which politician covers my part of the town and  
talk to that person.  He told me that in Stratford there are 2 people that  
are kinda like delegates that will work with individuals with issues with the 
 transit system.  He also said the politician in my area should help me  
too.  The more people standing with you will help convince the bus service  to 
do things to help their paying customers.

I wish I knew this when I started my job and felt I didn't have a chance of 
 working this out.  It took a lot of calling and talking with both transit  
services to get them both to give a little to accomplish getting there.

Bridgeport  only goes to K Mart in Milford and My Ride supposely only  goes 
to the Shopping Mall on the post road.  Well they finally agreed to  both 
go to Milford Hospital and that is where I make the connection.

Joyce  Kane
_www.KraftersKorner.org_ (http://www.krafterskorner.org/) 
Blindhands at AOL.com   

In a message dated 6/19/2011 10:37:18 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
SALISBURYJ08 at students.ecu.edu writes:

To  Trudy, et. al,

If you want to make a change in your local  public transportation system, I 
seriously encourage you to get people together  in your area who use the 
system (or will use it if it improves).  If you  can come up with simple 
solutions to the issues at hand, especially ones that  incur zero or minor costs, 
you may find that your local systems are very  receptive to the ideas.  
It's important for them to hear from people who  will actually be their 
customers.  For example, if Dr. Marc Maurer,  President of the NFB, were to call a 
public transit system in a Connecticut  town, the first thing that they're 
going to wonder is if he's ever going to  use it.  If they have no proof that 
doing what he says is going to  benefit them, they may not do it.  If they 
have ten people who live  locally and want to use their transit system 
standing in front of them with a  complaint, they might really think about making 
the change.  I'd be more  than happy to help brainstorm specific solutions 
with you, but I live up in  the northeast corner and can't claim to be a 
potential  customer.

Advocacy is one of the things that the NFB is all  about!

Good luck!

Justin

Justin M.  Salisbury
Undergraduate Student
The University Honors Program
East  Carolina University
salisburyj08 at students.ecu.edu

“Never doubt that  a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can 
change the world; indeed,  it’s the only thing that ever has.”    —MARGARET  
MEAD

________________________________________
From:  ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org [ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of 
Trudy  Swenson [trudyswenson at charter.net]
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 8:45  AM
To: 'NFB of Connecticut Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb]  TRANSPORTATION

I’ve been following this thread closely. Over the years,  my family has 
experienced many difficulties and frustrations with the dismal  state of public 
transportation in our area.  I empathize with all of you  regarding lousy 
and inadequate scheduling, delayed and canceled rides, and the  often shoddy 
conditions found in the transit system.  I have a question  for all 
participants on this listserv: why is there so much focus and  enthusiasm on the 
effort to put blind people behind the wheel of a car and  absolutely none on 
improving public transportation?

Driving a car  despite blindness seems a very attractive goal. We all want 
the freedom and  independence to go where we want to go when we want to go 
there. Nevertheless  it will be years before a method is perfected. Huge 
dollar amounts will be  expended for research and fabrication and manufacturing. 
 This doesn’t  take into account a massive educational campaign to gain 
acceptance in the  public arena.  If and when a blind person is put behind the 
wheel of a  fast moving car in highway traffic that vehicle will surely be 
beyond the  financial reach of most people I know, blind or sighted.

On the other  hand public transportation, however lousy it is, exists to 
some degree almost  everywhere. There are many simple things that could be 
done to make it better.  As a group that depends on this mode of getting 
around, we have a collective  voice.  Energy devoted to this issue might very well 
effectively improve  our lives now.

Thank you for letting me air my opinion. I look forward  to your comments.

Trudy

From: ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org  [mailto:ct-nfb-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
Behalf Of Richard McGaffin
Sent:  Saturday, June 18, 2011 7:08 AM
To: NFB of Connecticut Mailing  List
Subject: Re: [Ct-nfb] TRANSPORTATION

Good morning  folks:

about the transit thing I refuse to use it, I will walk take a  city bus, 
or bug my family for rides if I have too, the para transit sucks to  put it 
bluntly they're never on time and when I did use it. It made me late  for 
work.

--- On Fri, 6/17/11, Suzanne Westhaver  
<swesthaver at comcast.net<mailto:swesthaver at comcast.net>>  wrote:

From: Suzanne Westhaver  
<swesthaver at comcast.net<mailto:swesthaver at comcast.net>>
Subject:  Re: [Ct-nfb] TRANSPORTATION
To: "NFB of Connecticut Mailing List"  
<ct-nfb at nfbnet.org<mailto:ct-nfb at nfbnet.org>>
Date: Friday,  June 17, 2011, 10:41 PM
Hi, Joyce.  I think working the two  transits to coordinate is trickier 
too.  I have used the Waterbury/New  Haven connection  to connect in New Haven 
on rare occasions when I need  to get to a law office in New Haven and have 
had good luck, but New Haven si a  very busy transit system.

Nice thing about Waterbury is they run later  now.  You can get a ride up 
until 9 p.m. which it used to be 5 p.m. was  the latest.  Now they are 
talking about extending service until 11 p.m.  which is verynice for people that 
ork later or 2nd shift or just want to do  stuff in the evening.

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