For the disabled, patience necessary on the road

OGDEN — Patience isn't a virtue but a way of life for Stevie Edwards and Lopeti Penima'ani.

Bound to wheelchairs, getting around Utah demands the willingness to endure. Waiting for buses, TRAX and trains. Waiting for able-bodied people to exit first. Waiting for buses that have enough space for them.

On Tuesday, it took them five hours to travel some 50 miles.

Their destination: United Way of Northern Utah, 2955 Harrison Blvd., for a meeting with Bob Hunter, the organization's president and chief executive and a trustee of the Utah Transit Authority, to discuss with 11 other paratransit customers proposed fare increases and cuts to the service area.

First, the West Jordan residents took UTA bus Route 218 from 9000 S. Redwood Road to Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville. Then they waited for the Route 41 bus. It came, but Edwards and Penima'ani couldn't board since it didn't have room for their chairs. Most buses have room only for two wheelchairs.

The following Route 41 took them to the Meadowbrook TRAX station in South Salt Lake. From there, they rode light rail to Salt Lake Central Station and then FrontRunner commuter rail to the Ogden Transit Center.

For the last leg of the trip, from the Ogden Transit Center to the United Way offices, Edwards and Penima'ani rode bus Route 603.

Other members of the disabled community who attended Tuesday's meeting had similar tales of crisscrossing the Wasatch Front for hours to get to Ogden, including jaunts for 20 blocks or so on paratransit buses. Edwards and Penima'ani did not take paratransit Tuesday to get to Ogden.

UTA is short on operating funds, and its trustees could approve a proposal to increase paratransit fares from $2.25 to $4 for a one-way ride.

The proposal also calls for limiting service to people who live within three-quarters of a mile of a fixed bus or train route. Those who don't live within that proximity to a route, including the blind, would have to get themselves to that area. Currently, many paratransit riders get curbside service.

The 13 paratransit customers who participate in the Salt Lake City-based Disabled Rights Action Committee said they've made their opinions known to all the members of the UTA board. They wanted to confront Hunter in person, they said, because of his position at the United Way, which supports programs that help the poor.

Many paratransit customers live on fixed incomes and can't afford the proposed new fares, said Barbara Toomer, a paratransit customer.

"It's wrong," said Jerry Costley, executive director of the Disabled Rights Action Committee. "And we're here to call you on that."

"How can you call me on something I haven't voted on?" Hunter said.