More funding for better public transit is a disability justice issue. It is a community justice issue. When we make it easy for people with disabilities to travel, we create communities where everyone can participate and contribute. 

• Kelda Gorman, Pittsburghers for Public Transit Member

Week Without Driving PGH uplifts the stories of nondrivers and invites us all to advocate for improved mobility options. Together, we can win better access for all!

Whether we live in a suburban town or city neighborhood, everyone in Allegheny County deserves safe, reliable, dignified access to the places we need to go. I’m inviting you – whether you are an individual, organization representative, or elected official- to take the pledge to experience life as a non-driver, and participate in the national Week without Driving from Monday, Sept 30th – Sunday Oct 6th 2024!

The Week without Driving is a national week of action in which we uplift the experience of non-drivers in our communities, and highlight some of the barriers and challenges that we face getting where we need to go without being able to drive or afford a car. As youth, people with disabilities, older adults, people who cannot afford cars or gas- we non-drivers represent nearly a third of the population.

The #WeekWithoutDriving challenge was launched in 2021 by Anna Zivarts at Disability Rights Washington and is now a national initiative, led by America Walks and the National Campaign for Transit Justice. I’m proud to join this movement to raise awareness for greater mobility needs in every community, and I’m a member of Access Mob, a Disability Justice organization which is one of the four co-hosts for Week Without Driving PGH.

My name is Kelda Gorman and I invite you to join me for the Week Without Driving PGH to advocate for improved mobility for all!

Hi I’m Kelda Gorman. I get around by taking the bus, ACCESS paratransit, other social ride carriers like Z-trip or Lyft, so long as they have a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.  I am not allowed to drive for medical reasons. I love Pittsburgh, but unfortunately, transportation is so challenging that I avoid moving through it sometimes.

With ACCESS and other services like Z Trip or Lyft, costs are high and I’m on other people’s time. I can’t just hop in the car and go. It’s not that simple when you don’t drive. We don’t have autonomy, and that is why good public transit is so important to disabled people and to the entire community.

Many people who’ve never relied on ACCESS paratransit service might think that disabled people just get free rides where they need to go. The truth is that we need to pay out of pocket for many of the trips we take on it – its expensive and the service quality is very inconsistent! To book a trip, I have to schedule two whole days in advance – and they give me a two hour window where my ride may arrive.  If I’m shopping, I have to be done when they want me to be done. That’s hard because I can’t go grocery shopping and take my groceries on a bus in my wheelchair. Or they’re late and I have to wait until they can get someone out to get me and that has taken hours. I often have no other choice.

Another barrier presented by ACCESS is that there are rules about not picking you up if the sidewalks have not had the snow shoveled. I’m in a wheelchair, I can’t shovel snow. So I’m at the mercy of landlords and property owners having snow shoveled when I need to travel.

More funding for better public transit is a disability justice issue. It is a community justice issue. When we make it easy for people with disabilities to travel, we create communities where everyone can participate and contribute. 

AND BOY DO WE NEED MORE TRANSIT FUNDING!  I was once stuck on a bus for over an hour because the ramp wouldn’t deploy to let me off the bus. I waited while they troubleshooted and tried different ways to repair it. They had to send a different bus and move all of the passengers off of it. I experience a lot of being left behind by buses. Once because there was a person blocking me and the bus driver didn’t see me, I’ve been ghosted by buses that just never showed up, I’ve been left by drivers who couldn’t work the accessibility ramp. I know that drivers deal with unrealistic schedules, but still, no one should be stranded at a bus stop. 

Maintenance of buses and service quality are all transit funding issues. Politicians need to understand that and stand up for expanding funds for public transit. I have been to Harrisburg and spoken to elected officials about my experience. When they hear it they say that they didn’t fully understand what it was like to be a transit rider, or disabled, that they never had to experience what I go through every day. It was eye opening to see how truly out of touch these officials are with the experiences of my community. They don’t understand what it’s like to have no power over your schedule or travel timeline, to have to budget between transportation or groceries. It felt important to help them learn and see. That’s the best thing that could come from this experience. 

My hope is that during the Week Without Driving, more people are able to learn what it’s like day to day taking the bus and that they are inspired to get involved in advocacy to improve transit – because its an issue that impacts disabled people and our entire community.

• Kelda Gorman, Pittsburghers for Public Transit Member