This week, Amanda has kindly written an article for the blog about trying to use various transit systems within the Pensacola area of florida USA. This gives a extremely interesting insight in trying to attend an appointment by accessing the transport system by careful planning and the reliance on its availability.
Hope that you enjoy this and many thanks to Amanda for writing for us :).
When people think of Pensacola, Florida they probably think of the hot sun, the beach and the ocean. That wasn’t what I was thinking today. Today, I was thinking “How am I going to get to my appointment and back, and will I make it there on time?”
You see I live in a rural area, and I live to far away to take the city bus, so therefore, I have to take the community paratransit. I always have to schedule my arrival times to be an hour to an half an hour early to avoid being late. Well, sometimes that tactic doesn’t work, and I’m still late. Like today, I made it just in the nick of time because the van system had to pick up another person on the way to my appointment.
Once my meeting was done, I had to wait another hour for my ride. I was supposed to be picked up at 1 p.m. and I wasn’t picked up until 2 p.m. We had to pickup and drop off another person too, so I didn’t get home until 3 p.m.
The way the paratransit system runs it effects my life; where I go and when. The transportation system effects my chances of getting and keeping a job. In 2015, I was late 3 and a half hours, ( I was working a four and a half hour shift). It was embarrassing walking into work that day. I wish we had a better system of transportation but for now it runs the way it does and I feel trapped in life.