Reconnect Rochester presents Voices of Transit, an ethnography profile blog series that along with the qualitative survey data from over 200 RTS customers, shows how our current bus system helps (and sometimes hurts) transit-dependent riders in their daily lives. Read more about the initiative here and to review the survey results from the Transit Ambassador Pilot Program, click here.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and give us an introduction to your transit story.
Before I moved to Rochester, I lived in NYC and walked and biked everywhere. I have a brain injury and have been disabled for the last 14 years which prevents me from driving. Now, I ride RTS to get everywhere that I need to go. In the winter, I have a fat bike that I use to bike around the city too.
Can you talk about why you ride RTS? What do you like about it?
I live in a building that has a lot of elderly and disabled people with mobility challenges, so I take different routes like the 23, 14, or the 3 to get to Walmart to buy groceries for my neighbors, or to get to Home Depot to buy parts to fix the mechanical problems on their wheelchairs.
I live on a tight income and I don’t have a car so riding the bus is very convenient. I also love the Transit App, it makes it easy to find the bus schedules and figure out where I need to go.
The other day there was a woman with crutches carrying bags getting on the bus and I love that the bus driver waited for her to sit down and find her stability before taking off, that’s important.
Is there anything that you don’t enjoy about RTS? Or anything that you might change?
I use my [Transit] app and I only pay .50 cents for a ride and one time the driver asked for my ID and I was surprised because this hasn’t happened to me before, I didn’t know what he meant. He got angry with me and things escalated quite quickly. The second time it happened, the driver snatched my card out of my hand. Not all bus drivers are like that. But, we are all human, we have our days.
What are your thoughts on bus stop amenities? Is there anything that would make you more comfortable while you wait?
There are a lot of people drinking and smoking and using the bus shelters as housing. I know that this can’t be avoided but I would prefer to not have to hear [sic] that while waiting for the bus.
What’s your hope for the future of public transit in Rochester?
I work with the National Council on the Arts and I bring culture and art to rural communities around Rochester like Victor, Brockport, Medina, and Geneseo. I don’t drive and biking is 21 miles to Brockport, even longer to Geneseo, so my only option is the bus. But it’s not frequent or in some areas there’s no service. I have heard of OnDemand but I have no idea how it works so I would hope that there’s more service in these areas.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
One of my greatest joys of riding the bus in Rochester is that I get to hear people from all over the world, speaking different languages. Like if I take route 1 down St. Paul near the school for English learners, I hear different languages, people dressing in traditional garments, I love it!