Marilee's transportation story

“For a while, I lived right in downtown Everett. I could go on the spur of the moment very easily. Buses were very close by….I’d like to just go to the mall on the spur of the moment. And they don't even have bus service there now on Sundays. That's the day I would most likely want to just get out.”

Marilee lives in Everett. She relies on paratransit, fixed route buses, friends, family and walking to get around. Her biggest barriers are the time it takes to plan a trip — checking schedules, making a paratransit appointment, and making sure she has a way back. It’s hard to make appointments, like going to the doctor, with all of that. Marilee has tried DART and Access but they were both late and then ate into her schedule by 45 minutes or an hour. With some bus routes, it can take two and a half hours for a 20-minute ride. It’s also extremely frustrating that the different transit systems don’t connect well. All of the systems go through Everett Transit Station — Marilee thinks it shouldn’t be that hard to make good connections. Even just adjusting schedules by 5 minutes would improve connections. Whenever Marilee moves, she makes sure she is near a bus route and can get to the bus stop easily. She used to walk about two hours a day all over downtown Everett, but COVID has made it hard to get out and learn her new neighborhood with her cane. The sidewalks in Everett are unsafe, with lots of places her cane could get stuck and cause a fall. She’s had falls and close calls. She often has to forgo doing things she’d like because she can’t get a ride and the public transit trip time would take a full day. She would like people who have always been able to drive to know there’s a huge amount of planning that anybody that drives a car never thinks about, and to park their cars and try to get around for a month by finding the bus or calling a friend to get there. You can’t get off at the park and ride and get in the car and go the last little bit home. Is a bus available? Do you have enough time to schedule with paratransit or should you walk instead? How many bus systems will you have to use to get where you need to go?

“Having a bus route nearby is at the top of my list every time I move. Where is the bus stop, where are the bus routes? Are they in places where I can see it to get across the street? All of that enters into why I pick where I'm at.”

“I moved to a new neighborhood and with COVID haven’t been able to spend time learning my neighborhood with my cane well enough to feel safe walking. Sidewalks are not real safe in Everett, and I’ve had a lot of falls or close calls. There’s a lot of places where a cane could get caught. And if you're not paying enough attention, it'll take you down to the ground.”

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