Express bus service to be accessible
As of Monday, people who use wheelchairs and mobility aids will be able to take Capital Transit's express bus.
The bus driver can lower the entrance door by about three inches, allowing users to board on a ramp. The New Flyer low-floor bus was built in Canada and Minnesota, and brings the latest bus technology to Capital Transit, Manager John Kern said in a statement.
One bus operates along the express route, bus driver Eileen Coté said. Before the improvement, people with handicaps were unable to ride the bus, she said.
The new bus is part of a larger plan to make all of Capital Transit's fleet accessible to people with handicaps, Kern said. With this latest change, all but four of the fleet's 16 buses will be accessible. Seven of them are new since 2000 and have the low-floor design.
Making the express route accessible is a "significant" improvement, Kern said, because the route serves key locations in the community more directly than the other bus routes.
The service provides quick connections - the longest being 30 minutes - between downtown, the airport area and Auke Bay.
For Michael Carson, a VISTA volunteer at Southeast Alaska Independent Living, the new bus will allow him to travel more quickly, he said. Carson, who uses a wheelchair, said non-express buses were sometimes filled with no space left for a wheelchair. He'd then have to wait for the next bus.
"In my opinion, that's a very beneficial idea due to the time factor in getting from out there (Mendenhall Valley)," Carson said.
The new accessible express bus will encourage the disabled and elderly to get out into the community, said Veronica Delmoral, a community support supervisor at Hope Community Resources in Juneau.
"It helps make freedoms for the consumers so they don't have to rely on a caregiver," she said.
Having the express bus accessible will encourage more use, Delmoral added, because people with handicaps won't wonder whether the next non-express bus will be accessible, she said.
The accessible express bus will be useful for handicapped and elderly riders who are already out in the community and need to get somewhere, said Center for Community Regional Manager Cyndee Simpson-Sugar. People can use Care-a-Van - a city service for the elderly and people with disabilities - but they need to make an appointment, she said.
Center for Community offers in-home services for older Alaskans and people with disabilities.
The express bus service is described in the red express bus schedule. It operates downtown on Willoughby Avenue and the Federal Building, goes to the Nugget Mall, Juneau Airport, Auke Bay and the Auke Lake campus of the University of Alaska Southeast. Service is offered 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• Tara Sidor can be reached at tara.sidor@juneauempire.com.