[nabs-l] transportation in your area

Thu May 28 02:03:16 UTC 2009

Ashley I love this topic!  Thanks for bringing it up.

Listers,  Ashley and I both live in Fairfax county.  Transportation has been 
on the forefront of my concerns since I moved to Virginia from Louisiana in 
August.  I moved from a small town back to an area where people didn't ask 
what street you lived on, but what town and even what county.  Yes, northern 
Va is very metropolitan, but there is a reason they call it suburban sprawl. 
If you live in Arlington county and some parts of Alexandria, you are fine. 
I live in north eastern Fairfax county and work in the south western part of 
the county, right on the Loudoun line.  As Ashley stated, Loudoun has no 
transportation, and Prince William has even less.  I am in a predicament! 
My parents are like when are you moving out, and I am like what am I going 
to do?  As it stands now, my commute is a half an hour without traffic, 
which never happens, and an hour with traffic.  Two days ago I placed an add 
on Craigslist for a driver.  You can imagine the quacks that come out of the 
woodworks when they year a 25 year old working professional female is 
seeking a driver for pay.

Not meaning to bring a downer...
Happy summer!

Jessica Kostiw
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] transportation in your area

> Hi Peter,
> Well, I could suggest it.  Virginia is big and it would be complex to add 
> everything to the website.  I guess different representatives from 
> different regions of the state would have to submit info about their area. 
> In northern VA we have metro bus as well as several
> local buses riding around the city.  That's five little bus lines and that 
> just covers part of northern VA.  Major cities have transportation. 
> However ruraral areas and less dense areas have inadaquate or no 
> transportation. For instance Loudoun county  has few options and 
> Winchester last I checked had no bus system.
> So it just depends on where you live.  While its a good idea to put public 
> transit contact info on the website its hard to be inclusive about all the 
> state.  Also there are many ways such as calls, internet searches and 
> talking to friends to obtain information about your local transportation 
> options.
> I'll suggest it though and see if we come up with a way to put down major 
> bus systems.
>
> When your website is up with this info, let us know the link since I'm 
> curious to know what you included on the site.
> Ashley
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Peter Donahue" <pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 9:06 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] transportation in your area
>
>
>> Hello Ashley and listers,
>>
>>    And add such information to your affiliate and division Web sites. 
>> Stay
>> tuned to the launch of the NFB of Texas San Antonio Chapter Web Site for 
>> an
>> example of what can be done where available area transportation exists.
>> There are transportation resources in San Antonio that most of our 
>> members
>> were totally unaware of. I'm a strong advocate for including such
>> information on affiliate and division Web sites and strongly urge you to 
>> do
>> it.
>>
>> Peter Donahue
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
>> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 3:21 PM
>> 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
>>
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