[nabs-l] transportation in your area

[V Nork]

Hello everyone, My name is Ginnie , and I am fairly new to the list.  My 
degree, in psychology and journalism, is a bachelor's degree that is about 
twenty years old now.  I received all my education  when my eyesight was 
perfect , so the experience of attending college as a  person who is 
currently totally blind is of course another world.  I am hoping to get a 
masters degree or a certificate .  I would love it if some of you on the 
list could share your experiences with personal transportation, in a sense. 
That is, what strategies do you use to walk safely to classrooms, the 
library, the bookstore, etcetera?  I am sure there is a huge range of 
personal stories out there.  For me, just walking around campus with my cane 
involves a huge hassle factor, which can be overwhelming when I want to 
branch out from the handful of places I know how to get to.  I am in 
California, and on my campus you are expected to fend for yourself in 
getting around which seems crazy since this is a huge urban campus with a 
Disabled Student Services and Programs office.  This  lack of help is in 
contrast to another campus only a dozen miles away which actually provides 
golf carts to transport blind students to classes.  I have been trained 
extensively in white cane travel, and still I am on a campus that sometimes 
feels, despite my fairly good skills,  like a bewildering maze.  It is a 
school built on terraces, with lots of stairs and different levels.  There 
is a sparse population at times, so there is not always someone to ask, say, 
am I on track for the library?  What I would like is just to have some help 
initially developing a route to a classroom, and after that just going on my 
own with my cane .  Funds from the Department of Rehabilitation for mobility 
trainers can be  quite limited..  I have yet to go to the library 
independently after several semesters, since I do not yet know how to get 
there.  Years ago, when budgets in the state were fatter, there were 
mobility aides to help blind students at my school.  Don't misunderstand me, 
despite a slight balance problem which complicates things r for me a bit, I 
love walking with the cane at my own pace under my own steam.  It just seems 
that I would like more of my energy to go into academics, and not  into 
worrying about how to plan routes .  Anyway, as a newcomer to the list, I 
know there  are lots of thoughtful persons among you,and I am curious to 
hear what your campus mobility has been like.   Ginnie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "alena roberts" <alena.roberts2282 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] transportation in your area


> Ashley,
>
> Thanks for coming up with the new topic. In my city, public transit is
> decent. the buses go pretty much everywhere in town and the drivers
> are very nice. One of the great things about our buses is that they
> have an automated system that actually tells you every stop, not just
> the major ones. This makes my riding experience so much better because
> I know when to pull the cord for my stop. My one complaint is that
> because Corvallis is small, and my ruite is so large, my bus only
> comes once an hour. Other than that I am pretty happy with the bus
> system here. I look forward to hearing more people's experiences.
>
> Alena
>
> On 5/22/09, Ashley  Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> 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
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Alena Roberts
> Blog: http://www.blindgal.com/
>
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