That was incredibly well thought out and carefully written... so why am I so depressed by it? And why do I get more depressed every time I read it?
The truth is, this is an idealistic, visionary list perfect for the BRT planning stage...
and that's a vision so far from my daily reality that reading this is like scrounging garbage cans for food while listening to someone chatter about optimal nutrition.
This is the big picture, the long view, and the immediate challenges I and my toddler face SURVIVING north-end metro are so intense that I can't afford to think in terms of the long view.
*Right now* I need bus drivers who are trained to regard toddlers, babies, and pregnant women as vulnerable passengers like people who are elderly and people who have physical impairments. Because when developing brains, or developing spines, or developing fetuses get slammed to the floor there are life-altering and life-threatening consequences.
I have sat with both arms around my own toddler praying madly with my eyes locked on the father forced to surf a full bus, with one arm holding his baby against his chest and his other hand holding his toddler's hand and nothing left to hold a strap or bar.
This should never, ever happen, but I have seen it more than once, like it should never happen that the bus takes off while the heavily pregnant woman is still making her way back to her seat, and it should never happen that the baby should be shaken from side to side in the half-secured stroller because the fumbling parent could only figure out one of the wheelchair seatbelts. It should never happen, and it happens all the time.
It should never happen that the bus stop *at the library*-- I understand that we're not at the point where we can have perfect sidewalks on all streets everywhere but seriously, *the library*!?!-- should open its doors on to a cratered cavern of broken-up tarmac that becomes a lake with hidden reefs every rain storm, but that is exactly what the 65 bus stop at the Lake City Library opens its doors to. And that is why nobody ever buses to the Lake City Library with a stroller or a wheelchair or walker or shoes other than hiking boots. And nobody buses the 45 to the Lake City Library at this time of year because, people don't want to die. There's no marked crosswalk, the cars coming off Lake City in one direction and down the steep hill in the other are both speeding through the wet winter dark, and you'd die. But, hey! that's the official announced "Lake City Library" stop.
We need people like Andres Salomon who have the vigor and hope to envision a better future. Those of us who have lost our hope and vigor need visions such as these most of all.
But, I've got to tell you, with what I experience as a disabled low income north end mother, I am not aiming this high. I am not looking for amenities. I'm not looking for a positive and fulfilling relationship with Metro.
I just don't want our bus system killing my baby.
