My journey started with paratransit (a bus for disabled individuals) back in 2011, the summer before starting my first semester at college. I was not going to be able to commute from home to college and back by driving. Since there was no other way to commute to college, I had to sign up for SCAT (a paratransit bus company available in my county). In the last five years I’ve been taking SCAT, there have been so many problems and they are just as common as other paratransit bus companies both inside and outside of New York. From my experience, here are 10 struggles that are an everyday occurrence.
1. Early or late, there is no in-between.
Paratransit typically have their rule that whoever is riding the bus have to be ready before and after their pickup time; in paratransit terminology, this is also known as pickup windows. Paratransit possibly have different rules with their timing, but the rule with SCAT is 15 minutes before, 15 minutes after (30 minute window). A client is fortunate if either they are ready to go on time or if paratransit arrives at the pickup time requested. Paratransit can truly be annoying if the bus is either super early or really late, because the scheduling will be completely off if the client has plans they made ahead of time or have to go to work/school.
2. Drivers’ method of driving/their attitudes.
I do have to be honest that I am like a driving instructor whenever I am riding on the bus. I was learning all of the rules of driving at the same time I was critiquing the way bus drivers drive. There are days when there are great drivers with tolerable attitudes, but there are also other days when there are terrible drivers with really awful attitudes. Like reason #1, there is no in-between when it comes to these drivers. Sometimes, I do wish there could be one specific driver for each specific town within the county, but sadly it does not work that way.
3. Weather related issues? They don’t care.
Whenever winter comes around, paratransit is the worst because they can take so much time to get somewhere. I despise the days when the college would alert the population of an early dismissal, but with those who commute by taking the bus have to wait several hours until a bus comes due to the amount of snow that is outside. While I am grateful that the college has great security guards, it is not enjoyable to wait several hours and to try to call to see if there is an earlier pickup time available when there are never any time available due to having to pick up others.
4. Expenses to ride the bus.
I may have some bias here, but I sometimes think of how ridiculous it is to have to pay for the bus to commute to college. I don’t even know how much it is to pay for a gallon of gas per week for those who do drive, but the expenses that have to be made per week continues to increase. The trip is $4 each way -- $8 a day, if making two trips. Sometimes, there are days when I do not want to pay a driver because their attitude can throw me off.
5. Bored? Nothing you can do about it.
The bus ride is boring, I’ll be honest about that. Other than texting and going on social media, there’s really nothing to do. Music is a godsend for long bus rides because the bus can be so noisy while it is being driven. Doing work on the bus is impossible due to so much movement.
6. Excruciating pain? Nobody cares.
When it comes to my body, my butt aches if it had been 45 minutes, or an hour, since I got on the bus. A majority of the time, I try to deal with it when I really want to stretch or stand up. The amount of pain varies with the level of disability that someone has.
7. Rules that drivers never follow.
There have definitely been some times when I do wonder why windows exist when almost every driver doesn’t follow it. There have been times when I have a super early pickup, the bus is there extremely early, and yet they threaten to leave my house when it is not even time for them to go. I sometimes feel that bus drivers do the same thing with others, but they are always let off the hook when they take up to a half hour before they get on the bus.
8. You want to get home fast, but it will never happen.
Where I live is a half hour away from college, and surely you would think it will be a quick and easy ride to get home. Think again. This is very similar to reason seven, above, because bus drivers can be threatening, but never have I ever seen them be threatening to someone else. Sometimes, there are days when I don’t even get home until I have been on the bus for an hour and a half or longer.
9. Lack of communication.
This is my current frustration at the moment because it is 2016! There are currently fantastic technological advances today, but somehow paratransit companies never seem to get around to that. Instead of making reservations online, having an app to track transit, or bus drivers texting a client to notify when the bus is waiting, paratransit does everything the old way: calling them. I use relay (calling them and having an operator speak for me while responses come back in text) and that’s fine, but sometimes I do want the process to be easier and actually know when the bus is actually where I am without having to think so far in advance.
10. Early morning scenarios.
I am not a morning person at all; I’m more of a mid-morning/afternoon kind of person. Having a pick up time early in the morning is a pain because it is usually around the early hours of the morning when bus drivers have to pick up clients to drop them off at work. When there has to be early pickups, sometimes the bus will be at your house at least a half hour before it is even the pickup time you requested. Depending on how many drop offs and pick ups there are, there is a high possibility you will be super early, or really late to wherever you are going.
