Transportation out here just sucks if you don't drive.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

But I am thankful it's available.
It does not mean I have to like it. I have to rely on it because I don't drive.

I don't live in the boonies
I am in a rather developed suburb 45 minutes from downtown Baltimore.

Busses out here take 2 hours between runs so expect to be waiting at the stop for awhile.

Scheduling doctor appointments with the bus have to be very calculated including walking time to get to the building to get to the office in time.
I have to deal with back pain standing forever.

I am sick of insurance cabs and medical assistance cabs not showing up when I have an appointment.

Calling the doc to tell him I got stood up right before the appointment time is embarrassing,and the cabs that stand me up seem not to respect a very busy doctor's time or me for that matter.

Yet if you miss the cab
After 3 times you get barred from using medical assistance cabs for a year. Luckily I have stood them up once because I was in the hospital,they allow that reason for missing the cab. Thankfully.

It's not like I could make an appointment later in the week to get seen ,usually they take a a month to 3 weeks to find another open appointment time. The cabs insurance run or medical assistance funded require 5 business days notification to take you to an appointment. Often doctors can see you sooner and if you are sick you could
get better faster with a sooner appointment,but I have to wait a minimum of 5 business days. No matter how miserable sick I am.
If it becomes intolerable or effects my diabeties management,or
It swells up my throat so I can't swallow due to my bone spur in my neck, I say fuckit and go to the ER.


I don't have a patient first to go to unless I take 2 busses there. Which is miserable if you have nausea or the flu or fear passing out because you have diabeties and can't keep anything down,or break a bone and hurt really bad.

Medical assistance cab won't transport out of county. But United health care cab will take me out of county. But they've stood me up too or couldn't find my address.

I always have to be ready an hour before the appointment time for both cabs and they often come too early or too late. I actually wait 2 hours to make sure I am ready if they arrive early.

After the appointment the wait is the same. And if there is nowhere to sit and it's raining or snowing you stand for those hours . I pace because after 15 minutes my back hurts. On dry days I sit on the sidewalk when it really begins to hurt.

However the wondering if they'll stand me up or not it gives me massive anxiety. The whole trip is anxiety wise, torture.

I sit for 2 hours where I can see if the cab arrives. And they never honk to tell me they are there, If they are there I got like 3 minutes
or less to get in the cab.
I can't take my eyes off the window or go pee might miss the cab.

And the medical assistance cab will not transport you to a dentist.

If you don't drive it makes regular dental care almost impossible.
Not many dentists take medical assistance here.

There is one dentist in my county. She's amazingly busy. She scheduled like 8 months in advance.

Riding to an appointment with other sick people and their kids sucks. I feel in that situation a paper mask would make me feel better. None of my germs would get out and theirs won't get in.

Luckily it's not every time I have an appointment. A doctor appointment either by bus or cabs
Take up at minimum 4,5 hours out of your day.

Hopefully if a democratic runner like Warren or Bernie gets elected and we flip the Senate and House this could change into something more reliable and better,and would pay the drivers more too. How it is now is frustrating and often full of anxiety.

I hope the Democratic contenders realize how hard it is to get anywhere when you are disabled and don't drive. I couldn't drive even I knew how, because I can't afford a car's maintenance,repairs,gas or insurance on around 700 bucks a month anyway.

[MichMan]

1. Uber or Lyft isn't feasible?

[UniteFightBack]

6. +1000

[I_UndergroundPanther]

8. I don't have the money

To pay Lyft or Uber because all my money goes to making ends meet.
Because of the diabeties I can't get the cheap stuff full of carbs.
My diet takes a significant chunk out of my budget even with foodstamps.

[MoonlitKnight]

2. We got the dictator

Without the good public transportation.

[Freedomofspeech]

3. Public transportation is horrible in this country.

We live 45 miles from Pittsburgh...cannot even take a train into the city. I read a book called Blood for Oil...back in the 1920's the Fords and Firestones lobbied against public transportation so they could sell cars and tires. Nothing ever changes in this country. If you have ever been to Europe, you know how easy it is to travel there.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. I have a livid hate for Ford and the firestones.

Ironically I dated a Firestone, I was very much younger than and had no knowledge of thier destroying of public transportation. His mom was a haughty bitch,but his father was ok.

His mom didn't want him dating me. Classiest bitch,His dad was nice found me fascinating because I was into so many things and I liked him because he could keep up with me intellectually. It's hard to find people to keep up with me.

I broke up with the Firestone about 2 weeks because he was amazingly boring. We had a date and he picked me up in a Limosene. It was a short walk to where we went. I thought it was silly to go in a Limosene for a few blocks,but he thought it would impress me or some thing I guess.When we ordered food he orders a filet Mignon. I asked him what filet mignon was a filet of, and he told me steak. No explanation of what part of the cow it came from. Nothing to say. So later I looked it up on my own.

We ate in near silence as I didn't date him to hear myself talk.I asked questions trying to lure him out. But He was incurious and not creative, didn't know how to have a conversation he was dumb as a bag of hammers.

I dumped him after that last date because he had no sense of fun or adventure,not humorous or anything. All that money and nothing inside him to share.

However the one most enjoyable day we had he introduced me to a new band I never would have discovered,Zebra. He bought me some dried apricots from Neiman Marcus, because he saw me eating sunsweet apricots one day and he tried one didn't like them.

He said he'd get me some good apricots and those apricots he got me were kickass.3 times bigger than the sunsweet ones and way better.

We sat around listening to Zebra and some other music and eating apricots. He had practically nothing to say that day too. But he managed to do minimal conversation.

After that time I hung out another few times and still nuthin to say or share.Nothing inside of him to build a relationship on. I liked his father even more than his son, ironically.

So I wonder how many trust fund kids are vapid and vacant? If so why? You'd think with all that money they'd have rich lives full of fun and adventure. I would have,But him nope.

Sad little family,the firestones.

[Hekate]

14. Huh. Some of them settled out in Santa Barbara County, the Santa Ynez Valley, built up a winery...

Tried a little local politics. Hadn't thought about Brookes Firestone in several years, but then we don't run in the same circles ha ha ha. Also I moved one county over a couple of years ago, approx 80 miles, and as they say all politics is local, so have no idea if his kids are just running the winery or if any of them are getting into GOP politics.

Six degrees of separation and all that.

[CrispyQ]

13. So many policies made to profit the few.

[CrispyQ]

4. And we know what the Con thinks of disabled people.

Twice in my life I've had mobility issues and it's not something to take for granted.

There's a social media website called nextdoor.com. You provide your name, email, and street address to sign up & other neighbors of yours who are also signed up can communicate via their forum. You can sell things, look for places for rent, ask for help. You might see if a neighbor is willing to help. It's worth a shot. I've been amazed at some of the things neighbors have offered those in need. Someone in our city also started an FB page. It's not monitored as closely, but I've seen offers of help there, too.

Good luck!

[I_UndergroundPanther]

9. Thanks for the tip

Bookmarked the site to explore after I get off DU. And eat something.finish my coffee.get the cat off my lap(he's not ready to get up yet lol)

[UniteFightBack]

7. I would be taking an Uber or Lyft even if only part way to at least cut one bus out of the

equation and you should check out care.com and other sites like that where you could hire someone to drive you.

[ismnotwasm]

10. It's bad

Sometimes we give cab vouchers from the hospital for patients who don’t qualify for programs like hopelink.

Nobody should struggle to get to their healthcare appointments. Another piece of the mosaic that is American healthcare

[Kaleva]

11. My public transportation takes me to town one day and return the following day

There is no taxi, Uber of Lyft service here.

Fortunately, I have a house in town that i can stay at until I get picked up the following day to return home.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

12. That sucks horribly.

I hope it gets better after we win
And can change this shit.
Won't change under fucking republicans.
I wish the republicans had to rely on this crap to get to appointments.

[Backseat Driver]

15. Driving is not the magic ticket to ride either. It often fills me with shaking anxiety.

I am "directionally challenged" in the driver's seat (spin me around; get lost in the mall kinda thing), but one heck of a navigator from shotgun or the backseat; hence DU name - Go Figure! Drivers now are very distracted, go too fast, and don't follow the rules of the road; I usually get beeped at least once though I'm going the legal speed limit. Hate interstates and beltways! Seems everyday, there's an 18-wheeler-involved accident or wrong-way driver somewhere nearby. Cheer up, someday we'll have driverless cars and trucks - OH JOY!

But I feel your pain about getting around, especially for medical/healthcare access. My very senior FIL needed transportation for dialysis 3 times weekly as well as various doctor visits; for several years he was literally our full-time job. Eventually, volunteers came to pick him up and bring him home, and they were usually pretty reliable; just a couple instances of no-shows or weather-related but the treatment had to be done at the appointed time nonetheless. It was frustrating.