Is your transit system struggling? Share your story!
Around the country, public transportation systems are struggling to meet record demand with limited funding. Congress has the power to decide how we fund – and fix – transportation. But before it does, we need to make sure they understand how important reliable transit service is to the community members who depend on them every day.
Have you been affected by service cuts, increased fares or the endless delays of an under-funded system? Tell us what a canceled bus route or overcrowded train has done to your daily routine.
Share your story with us today and we’ll share it with Congress.
0-25 of 147 signatures
| Number | Date | Name | Tell us about your commute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 147 | September 01, 2010 | Andrea Lee | Last weekend, I caught the train to arrive at the airport 1.5 hours prior to my flight out of O'Hare. My train traveled one stop, then informed us we had to vacate due to mechanical issues. The next train arrived about 15 mins later, only to have to wait for the first train to clear the tracks. 30 minutes later and many grumbling passengers complaining about arriving late to work later, I ended up taking a cab and spending $40 more than I planned. Public transportation needs to be reliable. Thanks for collecting our stories. |
| 146 | August 08, 2010 | Steve Byrd | The fare increases being proposed by the transit system where I live are not the best idea to have in times like these, but when this transit system's main source of funding, the property tax, is cut, it's like the poor transit-dependent riders who have to suffer on behalf of the property owners' tax breaks.
Generally speaking, I think these fare increases and service cuts are symptomatic of what I think is a bigger problem with transit systems, and that's the people who are rich and can afford their own transportation are, for the most part, the ones making the decisions for those who are disabled or otherwise can't afford their own transportation. I don't think even the guys who run the transit systems or serve in a decisionmaking capacity on their behalf use them as often as do their own customers. |
| 145 | August 03, 2010 | Karen Fahey | All you have to do is read about our public transportation system in the city of Yuma, AZ. Out City claims that they can not support the cost of funding, even though other entities have contributed. I have never heard of a township shirking responsibility to it's citizens by not providing this much needed service to the population. |
| 144 | July 21, 2010 | Antonio Clark | My name is Antonio Clark. I been a Clayton County Transit passenger/customer since 2005-2008 and 2009-2010. I'm diagnosed with Autism and Epilepsy aka Seizures. I cannot drive because of my condition. I use the bus all the time to get from point A to point B. I even have to use it for like going to the laundromat, shopping or ect. My mama works all the way on the North Side of Atlanta and when she comes home she's tired, because of the driving and the traffic. I can't always depend on my mother or my grandmother because I don't like to sit around the apartment and be lazy all day. I don't have a job but I need to use the bus all the time to sometimes take my mama some lunch if she (sometime) forgets. I want to go to school for business, but I really don't want to take online classes I really want to learn in campus schools. If I do get accepted, how I'm going to get their without no bus system... like I said "I always can't depend on my mother and my grandmother to take me here, there, and everywhere" |
| 143 | June 28, 2010 | Lee Peterson | I have no car and depend upon public transportation to get everywhere.
Bus service here is spotty and undependable on the weekends. There are many places where one simply can't go on Saturday or Sunday, which are (guess what!) most people's days off. The situation here has been worsening over the 15 years I've lived in Seattle. Costs rising, schedules being cut, money spent on a showpiece light rail to the airport while entire bus routes disappear or the bus to outlying area is split into 3 or 4 routes that make a simple 1.5 hour trip a 3-wait, 3-plus hour nightmare even on good days. Public transport in Seattle sucks. Sound Transit does a much better job than Metro, but it doesn't serve the same area, alas. Metro is just awful. I've had to rely upon this system for nearly 16 years. I'll never be able to afford a car in my present job, so this is it. I would be delighted to pay more if I thought it would help - at least to convince Metro that key routes need to be protected and service INCREASED, not decreased. It can't cost more than that rich man's toy railroad has cost us, and with much more benefit. Try taking the bus to Federal Way now and you'll see what I'm talking about. Disgusted in Seattle |
| 142 | June 18, 2010 | Kim Gallagher | Berrien Bus primarily serves contract clients representing over 85 percent of their fare revenue. The remaining 15 percent of their fare revenue is generated from the general public, who are required to make a 24-hour reservation. The ability to serve the general public is based upon the number of vehicles currently not in use for contractual services. The frequency and geographic coverage of service for the general public is limited because contracted services receive first priority.
Because there is no local support for Berrien Bus in the form of a countywide millage they are forced to serve contract riders as first priority |
| 141 | June 06, 2010 | Michelle Klein-Hass | On July 1, my monthly bus pass will be hiked from $62 (which is still Highway Robbery) to the extortionate sum of $75. Individual fares will go up to $1.50 from $1.25, and LA Metro does NOT have within-system transfers unlike most systems. Day pass is going to $6 from $5. This is precisely the WRONG TIME to be doing this, as dead birds, fish and sea mammals are washing up from the Gulf of Mexico and Peak Oil looms.
This is BS. Transit-dependent people here in LA need RELIEF. |
| 140 | June 01, 2010 | Tracy Moavero | I just moved back to the Cleveland, OH area after 17 years of living in Washington, DC, New York City and other cities where I didn't need a car. I'm looking for work, whatever will pay the bills for now, but I've had to turn down job interviews because the bus won't get me to those jobs. One job in particular was accessible until recent cuts. I can't afford a car right now.
The suburbs-to-downtown routes are now down to one bus an hour. They had buses every 15 minutes when I took them years ago before I moved away. I have to be careful about timing since missing a bus leaves me standing on a street corner for an hour, especially problematic in bad weather or at night when I come home from my part-time job downtown. The fare is now $2.25 an hour, which is extremely high for NE Ohio. I believe that's the current fare in NYC, where the cost of living is much higher overall. I've seen mothers sit with young kids for long periods of time waiting for connecting buses. I have no idea how they manage. |
| 139 | May 27, 2010 | Stephen Fant | What commute, the employee layoff at Chicago Transit Authority is causing hardship for all. |
| 138 | May 18, 2010 | Edward Ganshirt | NO longer commuting, out of work |
| 137 | May 14, 2010 | Patricia Pacheco | Certain communities in Southern NH, including Salem, Derry, and Windham, do not have public bus transportation to get around. Either one needs a vehicle to get to work and do errands or one hires a taxi which can be costly.
From my reading, there is a public transportation project in the works for these communities. Hopefully, this project will soon result in a fixed bus route connecting many towns. This should reduce travel congestion and hopefully, reduce travel costs due to increased gas prices and dependency on having vehicles to get to work and do errands. Despite financial woes the federal, state, and municipal governments face and budget cuts being made, hopefully, investing in the transportation system is a priority of the governments and will help many communities who have residents such as senior citizens who thrive on being able to get out of isolation and meet others and enjoy life. |
| 136 | May 11, 2010 | Maneesh Pangasa | I have often enjoyed using the Yuma County Area Transit service. As I do not have a car public transportation has been my only viable option for travel within the city or the county itself (to or from the City of Yuma to Somerton, San Luis, Wellton, Foothills etc) and without public transportation would have to depend on family, friends etc for transportation. I do have a driver's license but don't have a car. My parents are not yet ready to assist me in buying a car. I am currently unemployed but keep looking for work.
At my last permanent full time job used public transit from Dial A Ride a service for people with disabilities and the elderly to travel to get to and from work. I have had some issues that make it difficult for me to drive by myself and drive often. Now I hear YCAT and Dial A Ride are both being terminated due to mismanagement and funding issues -- as of July 1st. This is terrible news. Nationwide it appears there is a public transit funding crisis just when we need public transit most. My mom works for AZTec High School in Yuma AZ and they stopped running school buses about a year ago telling students to ride YCAT instead to get to and from the school. Once YCAT closes they'll likely be forced to re-start the school buses or tell students with cars to drive themselves to school. Public transit can be good for the environment. Fewer cars on the road being driven = less people filling oil in their vehicle's gasoline tank and less air pollution being emitted by these vehicles when driven. If more and more people are able to take public transit and are doing so declines in less conventional traffic as I'll call it will help contribute to less air pollution. Less cars driven means less carbon emissions from the backs of these vehicles being emitted into the atmosphere. Yes these buses are less energy efficient vehicles than small cars and buses take up more gasoline than cars so you'd think more buses will add to pollution but we don't need hundreds of buses in each city. The number of buses are much less than the number of cars on the road -- and by removing public transit we are forcing some people who have cars even but chose to ride public buses to add to the pollution and add more cars to the road. By removing public transit we are requiring individuals increase car traffic etc. In Tucson AZ the Sun Tran bus service for the City of Tucson also struggling due to budget issues is raising fares on riders and cutting the number of routes it offers. This is terrible but not as terrible as the YCAT and Dial A Ride closures in Yuma County. Now YCAT and Dial A Ride are facing termination. This is terrible for riders including myself and for the bus drivers going to lose jobs. Congress needs to act. To address this crisis and help the states, counties and local governments do something about this in a fiscally responsible way of course. |
| 135 | May 11, 2010 | Erik Peterson | My wife and I both rely on the RTA system to get to and from work every day. As the schedules and routes get cut, the cost of monthly passes are increasing. Two years ago, when we moved to the area, a monthly pass cost $60, it now costs $84. It is getting increasingly less convenient for us to maintain this as our primary mode of transportation. We are both fortunate enough to work the first shift, otherwise we could not even consider this an option.
The oil spill in the Gulf is exactly why we need to reduce our oil consumption. We are all to blame for the environmental impact of our oil reliance. |
| 134 | May 10, 2010 | Jim Colbert | As more people are forced to drive as bus service is reduced or completely cut. This puts more stress on streets for those of us that use bicycles as our commute, shopping, and business transportation vehicles. Lane Transit bus will carry a bicycle so those routes that are cut or reduced also mean some folks can not use the bi-mode tool of bus & bicycle to get to/from work or stores. |
| 133 | May 03, 2010 | Jim Gottlieb | Unfortunately, I've been having to drive a lot more than I used to, due to evening cuts in bus transportation.
I used to be able to take a single bus home anytime until midnight. But now, that service only runs until 7 pm, and the connecting bus only runs once every half hour, so rather than risk taking an hour or more to get home, I just take my car. This is what we _don't_ need: more cars on the road. |
| 132 | May 02, 2010 | Donna McNamee1 | I am a 50-year-old woman with a disability and have been dependent upon others for transportation my entire life. The inception of public transit in my small partly rural, partly suburban county gave me the ability to work and live independently. thereby becoming a contributing member of society. Now, with services cut in the evenings and no service on the weekend, I have become a prisoner in my own home. I cannot get out during a significant part of the week; therefore my work is suffering significantly. Moreoever, my (and others who are in similar circumstances) inability to travel and the resulting decline in my work is contributing to making matters worse in my county. It's a vicious circle because Laketran is supported largly by a sales tax levy, the proceeds of which have also declined significantly.
Please tell Congresss we need a STRONG, well funded public transit Bill, NOW! The reauthorization MUST include operating assistance monies that are NOT tied to population if they are to help small urban systems be able to run buses and restore service. Oh, and to those who believe operating assistance is something new, guess again! The Feds did provice operating assistance monies from the mid-1970's to the early 1990's. Their pull-out of operating assitance funding directly contributed to creating the structural problem that we have today and why public transit is in crisis nationwide! |
| 131 | April 30, 2010 | steve sobel | Although I don't commute, I live in Michigan where several new commutes are being proposed. One is the WALLY project to take commuters from Howell to Ann Arbor Michigan. The 2nd one is in trouble or at least has been postponed indefinitely...it's the Ann Arbor to Detroit (New Center area) service that was supposed to start up later this year or in 2011. They are short in funding, about 30-50 million. Two trains each way per day was the scheduled start up plan. This delay also affects hopes to extend trains to Toledo and up to Pontiac and possibly West to Jackson, all using tracks owned by freight railroads, and would run where Amtrak runs. I'm not so sure if the proposed Light Rail line that is scheduled for construction this year from downtown Detroit to West Grand Blvd, completion date 2012 then if possible, to extend this line North to 8 Mile Road, the City limits.
In addition, Amtrak that currently runs 3 trains each way per day between Pontiac-Detroit-Chicago (Wolverine Service) which is not currently subsidized in part by the State of Michigan, is facing this problem by 2013 according to current Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman. The State is currently subsidizing 2 other trains: The Pere Marquette, which serves Grand Rapids to Chicago (1 train each way per day) and the Bluewater, which serves Port Huron to Chicago via E. Lansing, Michigan (1 train each way per day). The State of Michigan, currently in a financial bind due to the economy, was hard pressed to come up with funding to keep these 2 trains running until September, 2010. Just what will be the case by 2013 is anyone's guess, and at this time one cannot "assume" the economy will be any better! Therefore there's the possibility, unless Amtrak foregoes the State to come up with their share of the bill, the added subsidy for the "Wolverine Service", our trains can be in future trouble after 2010 and 2013. It's basically simple: Our country shouldn't be dependent on the airlines and highways which are constantly funded!!! Why cannot the trains, subways, light rail lines, buses, etc., be included in this transportation package as well? The demand is there! Trains bring on more jobs, it takes cars off the highways and it's basically a sane way to travel, whether inter city or local! It's been done in Europe and Asia over the years and additional construction is ongoing as we speak. Why do we have to constantly ask for these services year in and year out? TIME TO MOVE WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND TRANSIT!!! NOTE: I JUST SIGNED THE PETITION, BUT DIDN'T MAKE ANY COMMENTS. PLEASE ADD THE ABOVE TO MY INITIAL SUBMISSION. THANK YOU |
| 130 | April 30, 2010 | Gene Cass | I will think about taking up space on the highway instead of taking the bus or train. |
| 129 | April 30, 2010 | Robert Haley | I work at my home office in the city of Syracuse.
The upstate NY region needs an efficient rapid transit rail system running between Albany & Buffalo and connection all the major cities in between. This needs to be realized as soon as possible for the improvement of the entire upstate and northeast regional economy. Jobs and housing would increase in all these major cities, and along the high speed rail, corridor as well. This should be known as the "Erie Canal High Speed Rail Corridor" and do for our nation what the original Erie Canal did for our national growth and innovation in the early 1800's. Land use rapid transit corridors should be identified between existing communities and connect to this state wide rapid transit system. This is what is needed now. Robert Haley, Syracuse, NY |
| 128 | April 30, 2010 | Clifford Lewis | Public transit in the Cleveland area has become a last resort. Buses run infrequently, and routes that used to go downtown now go only to the rapid transit station, which increases the length of the trip. Because of the infrequent schedules, any trip involving transfers from one bus or rapid to another almost always involves long waits. In most cases when I have considered taking public transportation recently, I have found that I can make the trip by bicycle in less time. Federal money is being used to build or extend new routes, but they are not of much use because the older connecting lines run so infrequently. |
| 127 | April 30, 2010 | chris mccraw | bus service on the weekends has been cut down dramatically to outlying areas around portland, oregon and it has definitely impacted my weekend mobility as a cyclist who uses the bus to get out to the country to do long rides in rural areas. |
| 126 | April 30, 2010 | Sandra Chalk |
A citizens group in New London, Connecticut is working to get Shore LIne East commuter service to New London for the past two years. The service goes from New Haven to Old Saybrook, 25 miles from New London. Here we have an historic train station, a large parking garage and a large numer of regional and city residents who drive to Old Saybrook to get Shore Line East. Many trains have been promised but as of today we get one departure at 5:50 am with the return to New London at 7:30. This is not a convenient commuter schedule! Full commuter service will be an economic boom for New London - the trains have been promised, but not delivered. Shore Line East Coalition: www.onemorestop.net |
| 125 | April 30, 2010 | Leah Oviedo | I live in North San Diego county and because of transit routes being canceled I have been unable to take better paying jobs and it has cut down on recreational activities.
It takes longer to go to the grocery store, I have to walk farther after I get off the bus and times have been changed so I end up missing appointments. |
| 124 | April 30, 2010 | Alex Burchard | I live on the South side of chicago, attending the Illinois Institute of Technology. I have a highly random commute, but prior to the cuts I never really worried about how much time it would take me to get from point A to point B, it was never more than 45 minutes, Now I end up walking long distances or waiting 20 minutes for a bus that I can barely fit on because of reduced frequency. Or I wait 20 minutes for a train so packed that I have nothing to hold on to, or I just have to let it pass by. This is a particular problem with airport bound trains, luckily last time I headed out to the airport I had time to spare, as I had to stand back while myself and about 70 other people had to wait for the next orange train(10 mins), due to the crazy overcrowding on the first one.
Not only is there the problem of the recent massive service cuts, but in Chicago, there is the problem of a rail system that is literally falling apart. I have a window-sil full of fallen fasteners and various metal pieces of the tracks to prove it. The system has frequent random delays that can be as long as two hours as they were for my friend who needed to get to Midway for a flight and ended up in the airport all day because the train FAILED her and she missed her flight. CTA is a mess, it needs a LOT of things to fix it. That and the whole hub-spokes system it operates on makes getting around the city kind of a pain but that is the least of its problems, since it IS mostly a commute-to-the-center thing. |
| 123 | April 28, 2010 | Alisha Pelton | San Diego is already behind in it's transit development. Please don't make it any worse than it already is! Having just moved here from British Columbia, I am embarrassed for our city's inability to create decent public transit! Cuts are the wrong direction. The reality is that the future will have to be much less car oriented. Lets do the green thing and support mass transit! |
