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.