Waiting for the Bus By: Paulette M. Eberle
Topic: Transportation
Reliable transportation is a necessity for persons with disabilities to live an independent life style. We cannot seek employment until we have a way to get to work. We can’t have full social lives unless we are able to travel to various events and be assured of a way home. We cannot even be afforded the dignity of picking out our own food or clothing unless we are able to get to and from shopping centers. Everything waits for the bus, including life for citizens with disabilities.

Wheelchair users are routinely passed by at bus stops creating an extremely dangerous situation for many of them who may have body temperature regulation difficulties. Kneeling buses are frequently lowered with a person standing on the stairs of the bus. Accessible train platforms built above an existing lower platform are exposed to extremes of weather and a person with a disability is compelled to wait for his or her train with no protection from the elements. Elevators in some accessible rail stations are used for toilets and are left uncared for by New Jersey Transit. Persons who are blind or visually impaired and cannot flag a bus are not stopped for. Blind persons have been told to ‘just listen for the sound’ when they complain about this. I defy any person to stand at a bus stop in Hudson County and hear the bus over the roar of the traffic.

Blind guide dog users fare badly in New Jersey, which has had guide dog access laws since 1945. Even so, a guide dog user is going to have to hide his/her dog behind a pole to get a bus to stop. They’ve actually taught this technique at several guide dog schools because this problem is so prevalent. Several guide dog users have had their arms caught in bus doors as the driver closed them to prevent the handler and his/her dog from boarding.

New Jersey Transit drivers are forbidden to touch money, which necessitates a person who has little control over his/her hands or a blind person to beg for assistance from his/her fellow passengers.
Announcements of stops on bus routes are infrequent and at the whim of the driver. I have personally been screamed at by a driver who had not announced any stops along the route and then forgot to tell me when we had reached my stop, even though I had reminded him several times during the trip. This was to be his last run and he was on his way to the garage before he noticed that I was still seated on his bus.

During the past several years, Marianne and I have had to find innovative methods of getting from one place to another. Marianne has cerebral palsy and must use a walker to assist her mobility. I am blind and use a Seeing Eye dog to facilitate a greater degree of safety and mobility as I travel. With the advent of ADA, both Marianne and I had great hopes for an increased level of mobility. This proved to be a false hope. Most of the time, Marianne opts to leave her walker at home and depend on my arm for support. I will heel my dog and depend on Marianne’s eyes for my guidance. This puts both of us in greater jeopardy, but if we want to travel, it’s the only way.

We attended the June 2001 task force meeting of New Jersey Transit and were delighted to hear that every NJT local bus route were now accessible. Holding fast to the hopeful words and good intentions of NJT staff, we set out to travel through a newly accessible New Jersey. Did I say good intentions? Well, we all know what road is paved with those!

We have had many experiences, some were good, some were bad and some were downright ugly. One thing is certain; none of our experiences were a waste of time. We’ve learned what is working, what is not and what simply wasn’t thought of.
One thing that is definitely not working is the use of contract carriers. While every NJT operated bus is accessible, not every bus with NJT logos on them are accessible. Private carriers that have contracted with NJT to cover NJT’s existing routes operate these. NJT supplies buses to these carriers and will train their drivers for a fee. These fleets are not yet fully accessible and NJT has no estimated date when they will be. A wheelchair user who had been told that all local NJT routes are now accessible would have a very difficult time traversing Kennedy Boulevard on the #88 bus route, which is run by Academy. Not only are some of the buses not lift-equipped, the drivers who do operate lift-equipped buses are routinely sent out without the key to the lift!
New Jersey Transit has been very responsive to our needs as Marianne and I attempt to go hither and yon, but we still leave Marianne’s walker at home and I still heel my dog whenever we have an appointment that cannot be missed. I still issue the caveat ‘if I can get on a bus’ to every person with whom I have an appointment. Eleven years of ADA and we still can’t be assured of getting on a bus!

It is time to give more than lip service to the Americans With Disabilities Act. It is time to take a long, hard look at what’s really at stake here. People that can’t get to work, don’t. It’s as simple as that. Who pays for this? The person with the disability pays in the loss of dignity and a low economic lifestyle. The rest of the population digs into their pockets to support the status quo. How long can we continue to support a system that allows talent to lie fallow? Yes, everything waits for the bus, but for how much longer?