Marion Transit Share

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The Mar­i­on Tran­sit team saw a need and took ini­tia­tive to help a local wheel­chair-bound passenger.

The rid­er would reg­u­lar­ly board the bus in an old wheel­chair described as run­down and in ter­ri­ble con­di­tion. The rub­ber had com­plete­ly worn off the wheels and a bungee cord helped hold the foot rests togeth­er. It also did not have a func­tion­ing lock.

A few staff mem­bers addressed Direc­tor of Trans­porta­tion, Jeff Edwards, about the sit­u­a­tion. Edwards made some calls, and was able to coor­di­nate with Carey Ser­vices the indef­i­nite lend­ing of their wheel­chair (which the depart­ment keeps in-house for train­ing) to the indi­vid­ual as long as he needs it.

Edwards explained the rid­er nev­er asked and may not have had the resources to ask. ​“We just saw he was hav­ing a hard time, and we want­ed to help him.” 

The rid­er and his wife expressed emo­tion­al grat­i­tude to the team for help­ing him become more inde­pen­dent and for reliev­ing the fam­i­ly from push­ing him around. Now hav­ing a wheel­chair that locks is also improv­ing his safety.

Edwards expressed thank­ful­ness for his team see­ing and address­ing a need of some­one in the com­mu­ni­ty, and for the part­ner­ships with local orga­ni­za­tions such as Carey Ser­vices to assist.

There is a plan to check in with the rid­er every six months. In the mean­time, when the Trans­porta­tion Depart­ment needs a wheel­chair for train­ing, they will bor­row one through Carey Ser­vices as opposed to keep­ing one at their facil­i­ty every day.