I GET AROUND: Using Public Transportation Where the Car is King
Anne Carpenter
It goes without saying that if you live in Michigan without a car and/or without a driver’s license, life is more difficult. Add to that being almost 70, never having driven a car and with disabilities that could make driving difficult. This problem is magnified tenfold, due to the lack of comprehensive mass transit as opposed to other states.
Yet, Ann Arbor has pretty good public transportation with a bus system, an A-Ride service for people with disabilities and the Good as Gold service for seniors 65 and older. But transportation for me has been tricky. For many years, I commuted back and forth to the Autism Society of Michigan (now Autism Support of Michigan) office in Lansing/Okemos area. I have used many forms of transportation, such as, the A-Ride, Night Ride, MichiVan commuter van, Michigan Flyer, Spec Tran and CATA bus service which made for an arduous trek. I often said, “It’s not a job, it’s an adventure!”
Now, being in Ann Arbor full-time, I utilize the transportation system. While the bus service has improved since the pandemic, there are a few hiccups. For one thing, the A-Ride service no longer has same-day service. Instead, you have to arrange a trip at least 24 hours in advance and if you change your plans, you have to cancel the trip and schedule a whole new trip. What a pain. But I haven’t had to do that very often and I now get text alerts about my scheduled trips. I use the A-Ride primary to get to and from appointments. When needed, I take a bus into downtown Ann Arbor, but there always seems to be construction on the route. So even that has a fly in the ointment, so to speak.
Yet, I manage most of my daily living tasks such as grocery shopping by just taking a bus that goes directly to the grocery store. My stepbrother or stepsister take me to Costco for appointments about my hearing aid and to and from the airport when I travel. But for the most part, I manage to get around with the transportation that’s available, and as my mother would have said, “That’s not nothing.”