There’s more to bus service in city than meets the eye

There’s more to bus service in city than meets the eye

EDITOR:

There has been much controversy over the county levy needed to keep the WRTA buses running. Most of the talk has been very negative. Many people say that they only see a few people on these buses and therefore they are not worth the money needed to continue them. Please don’t believe that without checking first.

What I believe people fail to recognize is that these buses are not like the old-fashioned buses. The front of the bus is below eye-level to the average passerby’s visibility in a car, and there are 11 seats in that area. Up to seven of those seats can fold up for people with baby strollers and people in wheelchairs. The buses do not have front steps and they kneel down for riders to access them who are elderly and/or disabled, and they have a ramp to pull out for wheelchair people to get on at that front door. The back is the part of the bus where the steps are, which is elevated and where you see people through the windows.

People start out on the bus in downtown and eventually the bus empties and refills again all throughout the route. So you may be passing the bus as it just let all its passengers out at the grocery store. Or when you see a half-filled bus, realize there are children or babies in the seats next to people, along with their bags of groceries, which cannot be seen as you pass by.

Some bus routes have been standing room only and have been filled to dangerous levels at some points because of the cuts. I got on the Market St. bus in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse. By the time it went over the bridge to Woodland Avenue, the driver had to call the bus station and tell them he could not take any more passengers. We rode right by several people standing and waiting, and one guy was screaming out that he was going to lose his job. But the driver couldn’t take any more people. It was packed.

For those who feel a van would suffice, if you take 12 or 15 passengers out to their destinations, realize the fact that some of these people have to carry groceries back home. How are they going to fit all the groceries back in the van with them? Have you ever seen all those people standing outside the stores in the suburbs, loaded down with bags in their hands?? Vans would wear out fast. The buses are built to withstand that kind of transporting.

Working poor, elderly, and disabled people need the bus to get to their jobs, and doctors, and the grocery. Most of the riders are from Youngstown and have no adequate grocery stores. They have to come outside the city to shop and go to where many doctor and specialist practices are located now. These are people who wish to remain as independent as they can without having to burden other county resources for rides. The best funding is the WRTA levy.

I would think that 70,000+ city shoppers put enough tax dollars back into the county economy in those stores, to pay for the buses with a county levy. All I can do is ask you to go see the buses and make an informed decision. The buses are truly needed and used.

LISA BETH MOORE

Youngstown

Just between us, ladies

EDITOR:

Listen up, ladies, did you know that a study has shown that we are still getting underpaid and doing the same jobs that men do? Like we didn’t know that.

Men still can’t run a house or a business without women. Women work outside the home, do laundry, pick up kids, run offices and manage to still be sane. They have to stay healthy. God forbid if a woman gets sick and everything comes to a standstill.

We will never be paid what we are worth. It’s a man’s world. It is a shame that men have to do a study of this when all they had to do is look around and see who runs most of the world. Women.

IDA MAE VanDYKE-GREGORY

Youngstown