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Chapel Hill Transit meets with public to discuss challenges

Every day, Carrboro resident Ellen Perry rides the bus like so many Chapel Hill residents, students and visitors.

The biggest difference is that she does it in a wheelchair.

Perry, who has cerebral palsy and is the founder of Advocacy in Action in Carrboro, was one of many citizens who offered complaints and suggestions to Chapel Hill Transit officials at a public input meeting Monday night.

Perry said the Chapel Hill Transit system needs to better address riders with disabilities.

“I’m probably the one person that rides the bus the most in the disability community,” she said. “Bus drivers don’t know how to hook me down properly, and they don’t care to do it. It scares me.”

Monday’s meeting is the first in a series seeking input for developing a five-year improvement plan for the transit system.

“We are undertaking a comprehensive operations analysis, and this is one of the first steps,” said Chapel Hill Transit Assistant Director Brian Litchfield. “We want to see what folks like and what areas we don’t serve and need to serve.

“After these initial meetings we will come with the public with recommendations for a short-range transit plan.”

Transit officials and AECOM, a consulting firm assisting with the project, fielded complaints ranging from the town’s EZ Rider service to bus arrival times.

Litchfield said the EZ Rider service, which caters to riders with disabilities, would not be addressed in the project, but the system would still take suggestions.

Some residents said night and summer services need to be extended.

“We are still here, and we can’t get bus service in the summer,” said Michele Bergen of Carrboro. “You can’t have dinner at a restaurant and be home by 6 p.m. It’s just not feasible.”

Carrboro resident Laura Korch, who works at the Shops at Eastgate, said she wants more bus service later at night.

“The latest bus route to my house ends at 8:26 p.m,” Korch said. “I can’t get home from work, and I don’t want to walk home alone late at night.”

While the meeting discussed many concerns riders had with bus routes, driver complaints were not addressed.

Early routes like the RU, CM and HU do not have lunch or rest room breaks built into their eight-hour runs, which some drivers say is harmful to their health.

“Drivers may eat or drink while driving if they don’t get breaks, and that causes safety issues,” said Brooke Maxfield, a Ph.D student and bus rider.

Katina Capers, who has been driving for Chapel Hill Transit for 14 years, said most operators have split runs that allow them an hour-long break.

But Maxfield said every driver should have the opportunity to take a break if they need it.

“Normally we all have breaks in our normal work environment,” she said. “It’s only fair that drivers are granted the same courtesy.”

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