Category: Daily Living
To resurrect an old thread here, I was curious to know from people who live around the
US what are some of the best cities if you're blind and primarily need use of public
transportation. I live in San Diego just now and the transit is quite good but not great. I
suppose at the top of my list is Boston, because I hear it is much like a European city in
that it's extremely walkable and the transit is great. I spent a month in Scotland last
year and I primarily stuck around Glasgow for The first couple of weeks and that was the
best I've ever experienced in regards to getting around. Snow is a big factor, but not
something that I believe I can't work around. Thanks for any input! Cheers.
From what I've heard, charlotte North Carolina is one of the best. Denver is
fantastic, new york and D.C. are always good. Most of the big cities are pretty
good, so long as you're outside of the south. The southern states, for the most
part, don't put money into public transportation. Stick with northern and
western cities in liberal states and you should be good.
In my personal experience I have found Washington D.C. to be exceptional, San Francisco is excellent. Pittsburgh is pretty good. I agree with Cody, southern cities suck. I live in Phoenix now, it is only good if you happen to live in Central Phoenix, or right along the light rail line. It does have good paratransit though.
Denver also has some services you can use like accessa ride that gives you discounted cab fair.
So if you are riding short, no need for Uber and such at all.
L.A has a good system too.
Seattle or Portland Oregon. Beware of paratransit services. it so happens that ours in Albany barely operates. They refuse to pay half their drivers, half the drivers don't know the city of Albany so they shouldn't be driving, they don't pay their dispatch and they can't operate a computer to save their life. The dispatch lady is 90 years old and should be in a senior center. The drivers get pissed because of all kinds of dispatch scheduling issues, and the citizens are furious because they never get picked up on time or there is a lacks in communication somewhere because the lady answering the phone is so stressed out it's a wonder they don't have a heart attack right there. If they did their job right perhaps the phone wouldn't be ringing off the hook. And I've offered to dispatch for them and they refuse to hire anyone who actually knows what their doing. Typical politics. Oh and did I mention the radios don't work half the time and the vehicles all have slipping transmissions and the drivers refuse to even change the oil in the vehicles. So as convenient as it is, folks with disabilities is and likely will continue to be, a second hand thought. And of course the supervisors making near 80 grand a year and forget to do their job half the time.
Okay, okay.
Really!!!
I mean, really?
Just wow!
Laughing.
Seattle is not good, however, Tacoma/Pierce Transit, is one of the best. IMO, of course. I don't agree with everything they do, but, they are trying. Some places charge over $3 for one ride. They are only talking about hiking to under $2 per ride. I hate the price, cause, I'm poor as a church mouse, but, when someone said they pay over $7, I realize I have it good. Besides, they are understanding of blindness, here.
Here's to PCAB=Pierce County Association of the Blind!!
Blessings In Christ,
Sarah
Yeah it is $2 per ride here which is pretty decent.
Pittsburgh is good if you live near the city so that you can use the busses/T service..The T stands for trolley and it is pretty awesome!
Tampa Florida isn't that bad.
I've heard Austin Texas is pretty good with transportation. If you don't live near a bus stop, they have something called ride Austin that will take you to one.
We pay 4.70.
We get about 10 to 12 miles on any taxi service here for $2. Anything after that, you pay the regular rates.
You can do lots in a 10 or 12 mile area.
The most expensive ride, it if you want to use what we call accessa ride to get to and from the airport.
$17.50, and that is steal reasonable.
This goes on 24 7.
I've decided say at 4 in the afternoon I wanted to be someplace after mid night, say 12.30 AM.
Because that is technically the next day, I can call, and my ride picks me up at 12 and takes mew there.
Because we've got such an extensive bus and train system, the accessa ride is extremely useful.
You can book a taxi between 6 AM and 9 PM, but if you want to travel when the booking office is closed, say if you are leaving a club after mid night, you set your ride up before the office closes, and you'll get your taxi.
This is wonderful with snows flying. If the weathers not so bad services aren't shutdown, you setp on your ride, pay the 4.70 and keep warm.
Yep.
Actually, RideAustin is a local Uber-like service that came into existence when Uber and Lyft left town. They provide good service but their app has accessibility issues.
The local parratransit is good but bus service it terrible. You can buy Metro Access tickets for (I think) $1.75 a piece or a monthly pass for around $40. If you don't want to deal with paper you can buy digital tickets on your phone.
Bus stops are hard to find and times often change. There are no gratings in the sidewalk or other consistent markers to tell you when you've arrived at a stop. If there is a bench you can search for that, but often you are looking for a skinny pole that is hard to find. Once I was unable to find a bus stop along Guadalupe. It turns out it was in the first lane of the street! It was completely undetectable to me, and what blind person whould think, "hmm, it's not anywhere on the sidewalk, so I'd better step into the street to search for it"?! Sidewalks are often messed up or just missing. Stops don't have canapies over them, or if they do they're likely to be decorative rooves full of holes. If you look vulnerable, men will proposition and harass you at bus stops because there is no oversight. At Capital Metro they say that they would like blind people to rely less on Metro Access and more on the fixed-route buses, but actions speak louder than words.
I'm here to second Portland's transportation. Of course, if you get into the suburbs, things get harder. But Portland proper is good.
Forreal, where are you from?
I was looking on the MBTA website yesterday and I saw that if I could get a blind access
Charlie card, I have access to all Massachusetts transportation for free. That includes
subways trains buses and fairies. How fucking cool is that! That's motivation enough for
me to move right there hahahahaha! All kidding aside, thanks a lot you guys for your
responses. Keep them coming! I love this.
We also get all what is called RTD transport free.
That is any bus, train even express buses.
The only thing we pay for is the reduced taxi and what you all call paratransit .
Here we call it accessa ride, and as I've said, it is $470 per ride.
I live in Denver.
Uber and Lyft are now back in Austin by the way.
We have both services here too, but I find I don't really need them due to what I've described. I can travel for less then I'd have to pay using them.
Even if I bring a guest in at the airport and need to bring them to my place, we've got Super Shuttle, and it is still cheaper then any other service.
Accept for the transit system, Denver is like any other city a blind person might decide to live in.
You'll need to learn about all the resources and such.
For some, they find it difficult, and to expensive. I personally don't.
I have one thing to say, do not ever move to Abilene Texas expect door to door services to pic you up with in a week or two. Your fuck so hard its not funny. Uber and lfet are both in Abilene but even those services can add up. I've have not figure out why Abilene is so far behind but seriously I'd stay away. Luckily, i've got in-laws close to where I stay or i'd move back to my home town in side of Houston, Austin or San Antonio.
SF
NYC is the best by far.
D.C is ok but a bitch really. It doesn't run as often as NYC, they are always doing work which doesn't move smoothely when traveling like other cities. Even sighted people aren't a fan in D.C
Chicago has a pretty decent system. I like how like NYC, and DC you can get from surrounding areas in and out.
San Antonio's public transit isn't all that bad, and their paratransit partner with cab companies to pretty much take you anywhere within a 3 mile radius for free. This is pretty useful if you live within a mile of your local grocery store for example. I use paratransit to get me to the store, than take a cab back in case paratransit decides to leave me waiting for an hour after my pickup time. I also used their public bus system to get to and from my college campus no problem. Their bus announcing systems are pretty clear and most of the time the drivers have them turned up high enough so that if there is a line of them at a stop you can hear them pretty distinctly.
Also, I would advise you to check out transit apps to gauge a city's accessibility in regards to public transit. I use MoveIt but I am sure there are probably other apps that function much the same if not better.
DC metro is nice but Arlington county and Alexandria city in VA outside have transit that connects with your own cab so you get to go anywhere in the area for a flat fee between 3 and 8 depending on the service. Mark runs to Baltimore which is nice and VRE runs to southern VA. It is when you get to some areas where bus is spotty that you get stuck. Tampa in FL from what I hear has okay service. I lived in the O and hated it. It might have improved though within the last 6 years.
Raleigh is mostly good.
probably San Francisco chicago and new YOrk. Chicago is great from what I am
perceiving from a friend of mine, I've been told many times how easy it is
because it's a grid system.
Los ángeles isn't bad really Some of Long beach is actually pretty nice.