Amandeep's transportation story

“Some bus stops don’t have shelters and it’s hard for people to be waiting for over half an hour in the winter, especially for people with a disability or a Blind person. Sometimes if you miss one bus, you have to wait two hours for the next one. It’s not a good service for people who rely on public transportation.”

Amandeep is a Blind student who lives in Lynnwood and attends Everett Community College. She gets around using the bus. One challenge is that the buses she needs don’t stop very close to campus. Another is that bus announcements aren’t loud enough, so at busy and loud stops, it’s difficult to hear if the bus is the one she needs. Amandeep finds that TransitApp is the most accurate app and has the best voice function. She’s missed buses and had long waits using other apps. In Amandeep’s ideal community, transit stops would have Braille signage consistently posted, with route numbers, direction of travel, and schedule details. Going to downtown Seattle would be much easier, so she could meet friends, go to meetings, and go out to eat more often.

“I am worried about service cuts to public transit because in the blind community, not all blind people have good jobs. Students and others are struggling financially, and Uber is expensive.”

This story was originally published to Disability Rights Washington's Transportation Access Story Map. For more stories, please visit: https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/storymap/