[nabs-l] transportation in your area

[Sarah Alawami]

Where I live the nearist bustop  is about 3 miles away and pera transit
won't pick me up because of that. Ok. I am on a standby list and most of the
time I don't get a ride from them. That's fine as I have alternative ways of
getting around, like my parents, but what if I needed to go to the doctors
and my arrents and pera stranded and the buss system are not avilable? I am
not walking 3 miles to a bus stop even though I know I can.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ashley Bramlett
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 1:22 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: [nabs-l] transportation in your area

Hi all,
Let's have a more productive topic than rehashing ACB/NFB frictions.  I've
got one.  

How is the transportation in your area?  Say where you go to school as that
makes a difference.  If you're in a metropolitian area its probably decent.

How about near your home?  If you have transportation, is it adaquate? Are
bus drivers accomodating by calling out bus stops upon request?  Are they
helpful in giving directions to find seats if you want it?

For me, its pretty decent at school.  I'm near DC, in northern va.  When I
attended the large state school George Mason University, GMU was great.  The
CUE bus came to GMU and went around the city and to the Vienna metro.  Metro
Buses were just across the street from the college.
At Marymount in Arlington, the school shuttle bus went to Ballston metro.
That's our subway.  From there you could take the metro, get Art(arlington)
buses, many metro buses, or walk to many shops and restaurants.  Ruby
Tuesday, IHOP, a pizza place, and Chevy's were just a few accessible.  
At home there are not sidewalks and metro buses are not accessible to us.
So I have not done much public transit travel.  I did some on mobility and
when I lived at MU since I had access to them.

In my limited experience, metro is good.  Other customers are friendly and
happily answer my questions as to what line to go on as there is no
accessible way to know you're in front of an orange or blue train; they
share the same track.  Drivers announce stops on buses although many now
have talking systems announcing major stops automatically.
On a crowded bus or subway as I'm departing its helpful that most of the
riders move out of the way so I can have a clear path and exit before the
door closes.  Especially on metro rail, subway, you have a limited time to
exit until the door shuts and you miss your stop.
On metro rail drivers announce stops, but if I can't hear them due to low
voice or something, I count stops or ask fellow passengers.

Metro service is better during the day time as with all public transit
services.  On weekends its infrequent.  Some lines do not run and others
only run a bus once an hour.

So those are my thoughts.
Ashley

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nabs-l:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/marrie12%40gmail.com