TRI-CITIES, Wash. – Disability Rights Washington is urging people to experience life without driving for a week to understand the difficulties faced by those who cannot drive.
The campaign started with a panel discussion held at Cafe Con Arte. Much of the conversation focused on the troubles around public transportation in the Tri-Cities.
“It’s not impossible, but it can be done” said Panel Moderator Jaime Torres emphasizing the goal of the campaign. “The reason we do this is to highlight the infrastructure, the needs that are still needed in our community.”
Kurt Maier, a Richland City Councilmember and BFT Board Member, addressed misconceptions about bus ridership. “One of the refrains we hear from folks on the board is, well, nobody’s riding the bus. So we have numbers to demonstrate otherwise. Everybody who works for BFT knows that people ride the buses,” said Maier.
Language barriers also came up during the discussion. Ulisses Navarro, a member of the BFT Citizens Advisory Network, highlighted the need for better communication.
“It’s not just translating to Spanish or translating to Portuguese…,” Navarro said. “It’s about really getting together with the community, understanding the needs, understanding the time, the schedules, culture, and creating it for them to ride.”
Russell Shjerven from Teamsters Local 839 argued that BFT has been run as a business rather than a public service and emphasized the importance of supporting transit drivers.
“People don’t realize how dangerous that job is from the physical danger to the danger of what can happen to your lungs,” said Shjerven. “When you should have 88 to 92 drivers and you’re down to 60, that’s going to screw the whole system up.”
Originally a Washington-based campaign, the Week Without Driving is in its second year throughout the country. From September 30 through October 6, the goal is to take advantage of walkable communities when possible or reflect on the other transportation options available.
Panelists suggested several ways to participate in the week without driving, including biking to work, asking someone for a ride or limiting the extra car rides.
