Transportation Addendum to Stereotypes About Not Working

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-07-16 16:00:00 UTC
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an incredibly complex, three-dimensional toy construction of wooden roads and wooden houses, full of twisting overpasses and bridgesGood grief transportation issues have been on my "need to address this" ideas list for, well, ever since I started blogging here! I keep waiting for that perfect news story or perfect resource to key into, and while I wait time slowly passes...and commenters on the earlier post Stereotypes About Not Working are quick to point out the key role transportation plays in whether one can look for, or get, or keep, a job.

Transportation has a lot of parts: Is transportation available when it is needed? Where it is needed? Is the transportation accessible? Is the process of using the transportation accessible? Is the transportation affordable? Is a person's place of living and place of employment near accessible, affordable transportation?

Transportation services surely have improved in recent decades. Public transportation must be accessible according to the law. Some services such as vocational rehabilitation and state or county DD services may provide transportation assistance in the form of transportation passes, access to paratransit, or education about using transportation. Some public transportation services have their own educational or cost-subsidized programs.

And yet--

What about people in more rural areas where public transportation may not exist at all?

What about people who are (sometimes not by choice) living in locations that are not near transportation lines?

What about people who may live near transportation lines but that transportation does not cover the areas where the jobs are?

What about people who don't have access to rider education or subsidized fares?

What about--

Dora Raymaker
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