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On a recent cold, wet, blustery afternoon, Dr. Kelsey Quinn climbed aboard a bus to make the trip home from her job on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill via Chatham Transit, a county-wide service that carries paying passengers to destinations across Chatham.
A professional researcher, Quinn is one of the many persons of all walks of life in Chatham County to take advantage of the service.
“I’ve been using it for about a year,” she said. “I live in Sanford, and it’s easier for the commute. It’s nice to be able to hang out.”
Quinn was riding the CT Express, the standard loop around the UNC campus and other locations in Chapel Hill. It’s one of the many “get there” options provided by the non-profit Chatham Transit, a prime force in transportation in Chatham County. The service includes weekday trips from Pittsboro and Siler City to various locations throughout Chatham.
Enhanced quality of life for seniors
Senior citizens in the community, in need of transportation to senior centers, medical appointments and shopping requirements, are able to use the CT buses for trips throughout the county. Rides to the senior centers — the Western Chatham Senior Center in Siler City and the Eastern Chatham Senior Center in Pittsboro — are provided five days a week as arranged through the Chatham’s Council on Aging.
Many can’t imagine life without Chatham Transit. A survey by the Western Chatham Senior Center conducted in October revealed the impact of the transport service on the lives of the 28 participants who answered. Responders commonly said that without the service to take them to the center, many wouldn’t get a nutritious, hot meal for their lunch — some indicated they’d just have a sandwich and soup, leftovers, or Vienna sausage.
But it’s not just the good food that improves the day. It’s the ability to interact with your peer group that you wouldn’t have otherwise, responders said. A ride to a meal and a chat with friends makes a difference for many of the visitors to the center.
“Getting on the bus to go to the senior center or doctors’ offices may be the only outside contact some seniors have,” said Anna Testermann, Chatham Transit’s executive director.
One survey responder said that without the service, “I can’t see well; I can’t drive; I’d would have to stay at home; I’d be alone.”
“This is so important to me,” another responder said. “I can’t move around — gives me a chance to get out of the house and be with others.”
An additional service available for seniors is medical transportation.
Medical needs are prevalent with seniors, some requiring several trips each month for doctor visits. Through Chatham Transit, seniors can get three medical trips per month at a low fee, or up to five with a chronic condition, and the process is a “godsend,” according to some that take advantage of the service.
Sigi Markworth, who manages the Medical Transportation Program for the Council on Aging, called the Council on Aging’s Medical Transportation Program “a valuable and necessary program for our Chatham County seniors, particularly for those in our rural communities and for those who require wheelchair transportation.”
The survey responders said things like: “I have no other way of getting to doctors,” “They take me to the door of the doctor’s office or clinic; better than trying to do it myself. They pick you up and take you back home. I don’t think I could do without this service,” and “I couldn’t go without this service; couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Some of the riders are wheelchair-bound, but Chatham Transit doesn’t impose ridership limits on those who are infirm.
“I am in a wheelchair — I need the lift on the Chatham Transit van,” said one survey responder.
CT driver Faydean Milliken works many of the medical needs trips, but says she has a warm spot for dialysis patients. “I know how they live,” she said. “They need a way to get around, and give value to life. Sometimes the family is working, and can’t help.”
CT drivers have mandated training in dealing with some of their riders who may have dementia, or other mental health issues.
To accommodate needs for necessities for the seniors, Chatham Transit offers trips to Walmart once a month, and Food Lion once a week. Twenty-five percent of the survey responders who use the bus for grocery shopping do so because they have no other way to obtain groceries, or who have aides who don’t like to shop. Responders call it a vital service.
Exciting and new ways of living
Another service offered by Chatham Transit is transportation for the intellectually disabled.
This is part of a contracted service through Chatham Trades. The service is designed to provide safe transportation on the basis of a contracted fee per mile on the maroon and white buses to the Chatham Trades production facility. Some clients of this service also pay a fee per trip, depending on their funding, which are from various sources. Daily trips are offered for the differently-abled individuals who travel to locations for jobs and get training for a better future, while trusting the fleet of buses that give care-givers peace of mind.
It’s more than that, though. The transportation arranged through Chatham Trades is the linchpin for these consumers who use the bus service to improve their lives and employability. Chatham Trades Executive Director Shawn Poe says “Without transportation services, many consumers would not be able to come to Chatham Trades for employment and training.”
But Chatham Transit’s service are not just about jobs for these residents.
“We also contract with them for special trips that are designed to help meet individual goals and integration into the community,” Poe said. “Some of these outings include inclusive dance classes, public library, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, caroling and theater events.”
Without these services by CT, Poe said, “Many consumers would not be able to come to Chatham Trades for employment and training. Families depend on this service so that they themselves can continue to work and do activities during the day.
Chatham Transit provides a safe, reliable mode of transportation for them.”
On-call services are available
If you need to go somewhere in Chatham County, Chatham Transit offers a service for a low, fixed price-per-mile cost. All that is required is a 48-hour notice by calling 919-542-5136.
This service sets the price based on the mileage traveled by the bus service from the start to end point of the trip. For a trip of up to 20 miles, for example, the cost is just $7. The price is determined by Chatham Transit, which is governed by a board of directors.
The price for the CT Express loop around UNC is about the same as a Cafe Latte at Starbucks.
It’s just $3.
So what do you get for your money?
Clean, efficient travel to work by well-trained drivers, without the stress of driving in busy traffic in the county.
Driver Milliken says that she likes to drive, adding it’s her “way to help the community.”
“We don’t know whey we might need help, anytime you want a lift, we can,” she said. “Safety is the most important thing. I have peoples lives in my hands. It’s not just a job, it’s responsibility.”
There’s also a potential economic impact on the county. The American Public Transportation Association says that studies on the economics of mass transit have shown that every $1 invested in public transportation will create a $4 benefit in that economy. Testermann feels the service helps the economy by getting people to shop in the local area, and it’s a good selling point for coming here to live.
Last year Chatham Transit drove some 100,000 riders 1,000,000 miles to destinations throughout Chatham County’s 710 square miles, even though some residents have never taken a trip on one of its maroon and white buses.
Some Chatham County residents rely on them as essential transportation. Current ridership is already 5 percent above last year.
The service is available for all, Testermann said.
“I do know that there are a lot of people in the county that do not realize that we are providing a ‘public’ service in the county, which is available for anyone,” Testermann said. “I believe most people think there is a ‘qualifying’ process, but there is not.”
With gas at a low price, and low unemployment, some residents may wonder, “Why should we have a transit system here in Chatham?”
The basic answer, she said, is that it allows the rider to relax while saving the carbon footprint of each vehicle. A full bus of 21 riders saves gas, wear and tear on 21 cars, doesn’t emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from them, and allows a stress-free environment to and from work or other locations.
It’s an easier trip, rider Quinn said, because “I don’t like to drive, and it reduces mileage on the car.”
Robert Gullie uses the CT service often to get to his construction job, and he rides Monday through Friday when weather permits. “I can get about anywhere I need to go. Without it, I’d probably use Uber, which is very costly. I’ve been riding for about two years. It’s so congested in Chapel Hill, you can’t find parking. It’s a big help for handicapped, a godsend for them. The drivers are friendly, and the vehicles are in excellent shape, give a good smooth ride. It’s nice to relax on the way, they’re always on time.
I rode a long time on Chapel Hill Transit, and didn’t know about the CT service.”
For those who ride the CT bus, the map of coverage areas is expanding, along with their fleet of vehicles.
“We are looking at adding a stop in Lee County for our fixed route service,” Testermann said. “I am unsure as of yet of the fare but it will probably be the same as the mileage is not that different between Pittsboro and Sanford and Pittsboro and Siler City. There’s a lot of call to go to CCCC in Lee County.”
Also in the plans are for the construction of a bus shelter at Briar Chapel for the new college building being built by CCCC. CT will need riders to support the route.
“We’re really reliant on riders to tell us what they need,” Testermann said.
So, who rides the bus in Chatham?
“Everybody,” Testermann said. “For a long time, people were stigmatized who didn’t have a car, but that’s not the case now.”
A variety of people and age groups ride on the service fleet, and the minimum age to ride alone is 13.
“We have a good mix,” Testermann said of the ages that ride the CT. “We heavily lean to seniors. But why drive when you can leave it to someone else? It’s nice to relax on the way.”
There are some stories that affect the professionals at Chatham Transit, though. “Children that have been removed from their homes and placed into foster care,” Testermann said. “The foster home is in a different school zone, so we end up transporting them to school so they don’t have to change schools at a difficult time in their life.”
Another story is about the economics of work and transportation. “A single parent that only has one car [that] isn’t running, but they still need to get to work so they can repair the car.” They are able to use CT to get to the job, and have the cash to repair the car.
For Spanish speakers, some of the drivers and office staff speak the language.
To pay the low fee of each trip, the riders can pay with an electronic pass system that is in operation, but the drivers do take cash.
“The drivers are trained in serving the variety of people who ride their buses, including those with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as other physical disabilities, including the hearing impaired,”
“There definitely is a personal knowledge and relationship between Chatham Transit and consumers,” Poe said. “It goes way beyond just providing transportation.”
It goes to the heart.
Of the hundreds of riders and thousands of miles driven by her fleet of buses each year, Testermann has one story that brings home for her the value of the service in no other way.
She recalled the story of an elderly client who needed to spend time each day with his seriously ill wife. In her last days, he wanted to spend his time with her at UNC Hospital, where she was undergoing care, but he hadn’t been driving much in his later years. Each day, the CT service buses took him there to visit her, and because of this service, for the two weeks until she passed away, they were able to be together.