Advocates for the disabled are calling on Suffolk County residents to leave their cars at home this week and commute by bus.
The “Public Bus Challenge” is meant to show how important Suffolk County Transit service is to the disabled.
Marie Hickey with the Suffolk Independent Living Organization and Long Island Adapt says the disabled need more routes, and more bus stops that are accessible.
“Really, people have this sense of Suffolk County as being a car county, but it isn’t. There’s quite a few of us who can’t afford it or are unable to drive that would be able to be contributing much more to the local communities, to the local economies, if they were able to get to and from work, or to and from appointments.”
She says there are several goals to the bus challenge:
First: show elected officials and residents how difficult it is for the disabled or disadvantaged to get around without a car.
Second: get bus routes restored that were cut last year due to Suffolk’s budget difficulties.
“We understand you’re going to expect to ride maybe, that the ride will maybe take twice as long as a car ride. But, right now there are many people who can’t even get to a bus stop because they are so few and far between.”
