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Posted Jan 15, 2010, 7:47 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Hayes Valley, San Francisco
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Those without cars hit hardest by Bay Area transit crisis
Part 4 of the series
Quote:
Those without cars hit hardest by Bay Area transit crisis
By Mike Rosenberg
Bay Area News Group
Posted: 01/13/2010 12:00:00 AM PST
Updated: 01/13/2010 10:22:30 AM PST
Special Section
* Running on Empty:
Bay Area Transportation in Trouble
Like many Bay Area residents who rely on public transit to get out around, Redwood City resident Trevor Irwin feels helpless when fares rise and service levels drop.
Irwin, who pays $750 monthly for rent and bills, has cut his grocery budget to $40 a week to cope with a 25-cent SamTrans bus fare hike in February 2009, while preparing for another one coming this February.
"What's more important, food or a bus pass?" said Irwin, 29. "(I) can't pay all that money."
Irwin is known as a transit-dependent rider, part of the estimated one in three Bay Area adults without access to a car, who are now being forced to pay more for less service. Because they can't simply hop in a car to cope, transit-dependent riders may be hit hardest by the trouble facing local transit.
San Jose resident Lupe Medrano, who is blind and does not work, relies on the Valley Transportation Authority's bus and paratransit service to get around. VTA raised daily paratransit fares from $3.50 to $4 recently and, like Irwin, Medrano has had to pull money from essentials or ride less often, leaving her unable to go out as often for social purposes, and she has stopped attending De Anza College in Cupertino.
"We're in a recession — a lot of people are hurting. We're on fixed income," said Medrano, 52. "It's just making it more and more difficult for people to get out there and do what they need to do for daily living."
The current service cuts and fare hikes are likely to produce significant lifestyle changes, as when AC Transit slashed service by 12 percent and upped fares 15 cents in 1996. At the time, 524 passengers surveyed by an independent research group said they took 35 percent fewer weekly bus trips for work, about half as many trips for shopping, health care and senior centers and two-thirds fewer recreation trips.
Some advocates have been critical of transit agencies for trimming off-peak service, because transit-dependent commuters often work low-income jobs during odd hours. Recently, Caltrain increased midday wait times from half-hourly to hourly, and BART reduced weeknight and weekend service from every 15 minutes to every 20 minutes, while keeping commute-time schedules intact.
Transit agencies say they have little choice because their commute-time trains attract more riders and are the most economically feasible.
Some low-income riders may have little recourse but to purchase cheap cars, keep them uninsured and hope they don't break down, said Guillermo Mayer, staff attorney for San Francisco-based civil rights law firm Public Advocates.
"It pushes people deeper into poverty," Mayer said. "People are becoming, I think, desperate. This is an immediate impact that they see every single day. They don't have the option of not sending their kids to school; they don't have the option of not showing up at work."
Some advocates have also criticized transit agencies for funding costly projects that benefit mostly affluent residents.
Cash-strapped BART, for instance, decided in December to spend $492 million on a people-mover for fliers headed to Oakland International Airport. The board that distributes San Mateo County transit sales tax money recently moved up $15 million for a new ferry line designed for South San Francisco biotech workers coming from Oakland's Jack London Square.
"I believe we should service more who are transit-dependent, those who have no other means to get to doctors, work, school, whatever," longtime South San Francisco Councilwoman Karyl Matsumoto said. "That should be the priority."
Vallejo resident Michael Ella, who works part-time in San Francisco as a guest services usher at AT&T and Candlestick parks, can't afford to buy a car and takes Vallejo Transit and BART. With reduced bus service, Ella, 32, often has to walk home, alongside Interstate 780, from the El Cerrito del Norte BART station.
The journey takes him 3½ hours, and with BART fare hikes it costs $18.20 round trip. He often stays overnight with a friend in San Francisco.
"About 40 percent of my expenses go to commuting," Ella said. "That sometimes drives me crazy."
For seniors, the disabled and others who have trouble walking or getting rides, the service cuts endanger their ability to do basic errands such as grocery shopping.
"Obviously, the concern that I have is that people will not get out of their house. They'll be isolated," said Metropolitan Transportation Commission Vice Chairwoman Adrienne Tissier, a San Mateo County supervisor.
Others will turn to friends and family members for rides, which may be quicker and cheaper but can chip away at their pride, independence and freedom, advocates and riders say.
Those at Community Gatepath, a Burlingame-based nonprofit that serves the disabled, including Irwin, said it looks like Irwin has lost weight since he cut back on grocery bills. Irwin, who works as a landscaper there, is worried the worst is yet to come.
"If we get cuts, then we can't come to work," said Irwin, who says the job makes him happy. "It takes your goals away from you."
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Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-transportation/ci_14167702?nclick_check=1
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