Putting the “community” in Community Transit

CT has launched a cool storytelling project. From a recent press release:

Snohomish County, Wash. – She said, “If Community Transit doesn’t
go there, then neither do I.”

It couldn’t have been scripted any better. She was an elegant senior
who never learned to drive. She had used public transit for her entire
life, expressing in her own words what Community Transit meant to her.
She was sharing her story.

Storytelling is society’s way of communicating between people: the
histories, the hopes, the personal details. While this story happened a
few years ago and wasn’t officially recorded, it was passed from
employee to employee and an idea was born: Community Transit impacts so
many lives; those stories should be collected.

Now the agency has launched a project to gather and share stories that
express the importance of public transportation to individuals, in their
own words: unscripted, unrehearsed, unaltered.

I love this. Stories remind us why public transportation is an essential service. Because beyond all the practical reasons to ride, buses are about people.

2 thoughts on “Putting the “community” in Community Transit”

  1. Wayne

    Hey, Buschick. Have you seen the report about aging in the suburbs on PBS? I never thought about how hard it is for seniors who can’t drive anymore. A lot of them said the things that attracted them to the suburbs decades ago, space and privacy, are the things that are causing so much hardship. I live in a suburb in Houston and I would have a very hard time without my car. I hate to think what would happen if I lost my vision or anything that would stop me from driving. Here’s a link to the video if you haven’t seen it. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/uncategorized/need-to-know-january-28-2011-aging-in-the-car-happy-suburbs-congo-a-new-new-deal/6781/

    1. BusChick Post author

      Thanks, Wayne. This looks very interesting. It’s funny how the car is sold to us as a tool of independence. For a significant portion of the population,communities that are built around cars take away the independence: youth, the elderly, people who can’t afford cars, immigrants who haven’t learned to drive. Transit + walkability = mobility for everyone.

      P.S. – I went to Rice University and lived in Houston for a few years after graduation, so I know what you’re facing! :(

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