“People use transportation just like they use their own car. And if their car wasn’t reliable, let’s say, their car could only crank up every hour, they would be so frustrated! So they have to look at it like that, like this is our car and we need it to be more reliable.”
- Holly McCoy, Transit Rider
In “Challenges to Equitable Transit - A Durham Documentary”, we see and hear the voices of transit riders and transit workers as they describe the main challenges they face using the bus in Durham. These challenges echo ones we’ve heard from other riders, transit workers, and people who live in low-wealth communities of color and that were captured in the first round of public engagement for the Durham Transit Plan update.
Riders are demanding:
More frequent service
More reliable service
More direct service with shorter travel times to jobs and other destinations in Durham and the region
Safer walks to bus stops
Accessible and comfortable bus stops
Expanded paratransit and other curb-to-curb service
A core strategy of the Transit Equity Campaign is to identify and communicate the transportation needs of current transit riders and low-wealth communities of color in Durham to decision-makers and the general public. The Transit Equity Campaign has relayed many of the needs we have heard to those in charge of updating the Durham Transit Plan, but there is no substitute to those officials hearing these needs directly from the riders in their own voices. This is particularly critical as already limited opportunities to listen to riders, such as bi-monthly public meetings at Durham Station, have been discontinued during the pandemic.
The Transit Equity Campaign commissioned two local videographers, John Laww and Saleem Reshamwala, to produce videos that describe the benefits and challenges of Durham’s current transit system through transit rider and worker interviews and showing the rider experience directly.
In addition to “Challenges to Equitable Transit - A Durham Documentary,” we created three shorter video vignettes to capture individual stories and topics. The first of these, “Supporting Transit for Persons With Disabilities,” spotlights Marie Hill Faison, a paratransit operator for GoDurham ACCESS and a Transit Equity Campaign partner. Paratransit is a federally mandated curb-to-curb service for persons with disabilities and is complemented by a county-wide system that fills in gaps in the fixed-route bus system in Durham. The Durham Transit Plan should reduce wait times and expand service levels on local and regional bus and paratransit services to improve the lives of those who cannot drive due to a disability. This would also increase transportation options for people who live or work in parts of Durham County where bus service does not run.
Transit service is only useful if people can safely get to and from bus stops and feel safe and comfortable at the stops themselves. The second vignette, “Walking To and Waiting At the Bus Stop,” focuses on the lack of sidewalks and safe street crossings for people walking to and from bus stops and the poor condition of many of the bus stops in Durham. These issues were identified by every rider we interviewed for these videos. The Durham Transit Plan should ensure that bus stops in Durham have safe sidewalk connections and consistent, dignified waiting conditions at the stop.
The final vignette focuses on a transit journey George A. Long, a longtime GoDurham rider, takes to accompany his friend, Lisa Raiford, to get her COVID-19 vaccination. What could be a better demonstration of how essential transit is in Durham?! George has benefited from a doubling of frequency on the route that serves his apartment, GoDurham Route 12, and newer buses, both of which have been funded through the Durham Transit Plan. The Durham Transit Plan should ensure more frequent service and better buses are provided to more people in Durham to improve access to jobs and services, particularly for low-wealth communities of color.
If you support these priorities, please click the link below to sign on to the Transit Equity Campaign.