Dear TRENDS Diary –
I grew up low-income in rural Oregon and felt the impact of not having reliable car transportation. After graduating high school, I went to a community college in Eugene, OR, and there was a bus system there.
It was liberating to ride the bus. What I love about transit is feeling like you’re a part of something and feeling connected to people you’re traveling with.
I strongly believe transportation access is overlooked as a crucial lynchpin service that allows people to thrive, improve their quality of life, and access economic opportunity. Transportation options can be really confusing to navigate, especially since our system is built to favor the personal automobile.
I’m the program manager for Mobility for All, which connects people to transportation resources in our community beyond what they’d typically think of.
We look holistically at the unique gaps and barriers that face older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income households. We try to craft solutions through community-based planning and empowering people to help solve their own transportation challenges.
When most people think about transit, they think about transit from downtown Denver to downtown Boulder. They don’t think of people who can’t age in place in their home or be an active part of the community because they can’t get to the bus.
A key part of our education and policy discussion is how housing and transportation are really connected. We’ve seen people displaced and affordable housing moved farther from good transit access.
Since the pandemic began, Via Mobility Services and other transportation providers have changed their models in some cases to bring food to people instead of expecting them to go out. They partnered with the farmers market, food pantries, and local stores to bring boxes of food to people who need them. Via has also been flexible in helping people get to “next available” vaccine appointments.
– Angel Bond, as told to Will Betke-Brunswick
