I seem to be starting every post with some version of this nowadays, but, if I had a dollar for…
… every time someone said “It's good to see you out!" then, well, maybe I'd be making some money off of these adventures… but hey at least there's a good story to tell, right?
The irony of this one is that it happened on or close to what was supposed to be the anniversary of one of the landmark legislations of our time, the ADA, which, as my Facebook post earlier that day alluded to, would allow me to use public transportation to go anywhere I wanted, and meet some lovely friends of mine. As it turned out, that didn't happen that day, so I went 4 days later to try again.
Now here's where I will say living in a large metropolitan area has its advantages. First of all, I don't have to use paratransit, also known as the bus from hell, and I even have the option of using a variety of transportation modes to accomplish this, something that I didn't have growing up other than one bus route and my parents' van. Not being isolated can make a huge difference! So now for the story....
I was waiting downtown, having completed leg 1 of the 4 leg bus trip each way. The next bus, which was a cross county luxury commuter bus only picked up at certain locations, as it was an express bus. These buses had the kind of lifts that had a seatbelt on two yellow canes, as if that would somehow stop the Beastmobile from falling off. If everything wasn't secured just right, the lifts won't operate for safety reasons. At this point, I was already running an hour and a half late due to some unexpected changes in the morning schedule. The bus itself was running late as well, and it turned out, after 20 minutes of trying, that the seatbelt was put in the buckle upside down and so therefore it wouldn't work. Luckily, the first driver was very gracious and had a good attitude, apologizing profusely for the delay.
I had no problems on that commuter bus until we got to the station and I awaited the third bus, to take me to a well-known shopping center area. Unfortunately, this driver had woken up on the wrong side of the bed and acted like the worst thing I could possibly do was get on her bus, not realizing that the hooks on one side of the bus for the wheelchair would not release. After cussing and generally being unpleasant, she was able to get me to move to the other side of the bus and we were on our way.
I had been texting my aide as we made arrangements to meet at a Mexican restaurant so she could help me and I could get something to eat, as at this point it had turned into a 4 hour ordeal instead of what would be the usual two, but right before we got there, my phone died. I went in the Mexican restaurant, struggling to open the doors and track down the hostess, who said that there was no one there waiting for me. I decided to go to the bus stop and wait, and then realized that I couldn't remember the first part of her phone number to give her a call. On my way back to the restaurant, my translt card fell out of my wallet into the middle of the road, where I couldn't reach it. So yes, I was that guy who cried in the middle of the parking lot. Luckily, a few minutes later she found me and I was able to be on my way. I told her that I couldn't believe what had happened and I hoped this day was over. Luckily, I was still able to get on the bus to my friend's house and we had a lovely evening, which was the least of my concerns. Maybe I just had bad luck.
I got the last bus out of my friend's neighborhood, which by all calculations would get me home in plenty of time for my nighttime assistant to show up that night. I was exhausted and yet so happy that I still had the chance to have a great evening with my friend, no matter what the ordeal. That was just a messed up day and it had to get better now, right?
Wrong! Murphy's Law was in full effect that day. I had no problems with the first two buses I had to get on, though there was a bit of a waiting period for the second one, so I called my aide to let her know that I was on the way. When I got to the station where I took the express commuter bus into the city, I was so ready to go home. There was a 20 minute wait and it turned out that this was the last bus of the day, so I was so happy all my planning had worked. And then, it happened.
When the bus driver got the lift out of the bus, it wouldn't go all the way up so that the door could be unlocked.
“Maybe it's the seatbelt,” I said, hoping to share some insight from earlier in the day. At first I thought it had something to do with my chair, so I tried to get off the lift and see if it happened again. It did. The guy tried about 10 more times with the same results. I offered to take another bus or a cab, but then I was informed that there was nothing accessible that picked up in Pierce County during an emergency. He said the only option was to wait for another bus from the terminal, and they couldn't leave until it arrived. I told the driver that I was fine to wait at the station and they could continue on their way, because now there was a bus full of people who were pissed off that they were missing their Greyhound tickets or the night shift at work. He insisted that it was not my fault and he had to wait there until the next bus arrived. At this point, I was cradling my forehead and trying not to cry (again!). Close to 45 minutes after the initial departure time, another bus arrived, and I could finally go home. My aide that night was gracious enough to come back even though I had missed the time she was supposed to be there because of this ordeal.
Now, I'm going to do something very uncharacteristic. At first, I was going to send in a complaint to the transit company to fix their buses, or provide another option, but then I realized that this driver that was there when this happened could not have been any nicer or more reassuring about it. So I would like to publicly say thank you to Jimmy, the driver of Sound Transit 594, on the last shift into Seattle on July 30th. Your professional attitude and humorous demeanor made the whole experience bearable even though nobody wanted to be there, least of all a bus full of angry commuters. You handled the situation in the best way you could, and I think everyone thanks you for that, especially me!
The next morning, after many searches on Google, I discovered that there are indeed no accessible alternatives to mass transit in that county. There is “medical” transport service of several varieties that does not advertise that they will actually take you other places besides medical appointments until you call them, but you still have to schedule several days in advance. Even a call to Yellow Cab yielded no success, and I was told to call paratransit, which I don't have because there is no reason why I can't ride the bus (except for this!) Had that alternate bus not been arranged, I would still have been screwed, despite careful route planning and circumstances way beyond my control, and that, if nothing else, should give you something to think about, transit companies! Needless to say I don't plan on traveling that schedule again anytime soon!
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