Utah blind couple must trek far to catch bus

From the intro to a story in the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah:

It's not far to walk: 550 feet around the bend to catch a bus.

When you're blind, though, and it's winter, and the bus is turning around outside your house anyway, trudging the length of a couple of football fields seems an unnecessary nuisance. And in summer, when it's 100 degrees, the shade over the porch would be a nice shelter.

These are the hassles that greet Raymond and Crystal Wright (pictured) when they make the long commute from their Sandy home to lessons at a Salt Lake City community center for the blind.

While others who rely on the Utah Transit Authority's disability-shuttle service get door-to-door delivery, the Wrights must get within three-quarters of a mile of
a standard bus route because they signed up after a rule change in July 2007.

The irony they loathe is that drivers picking them up just east of 1300 East near 8200 South invent a circuitous route to avoid passing the Wrights' home on the way. Often the driver will accidentally turn around in their cul-de-sac before bringing them back to the drop-off or will pull into the next street closest to their house and back into traffic to make the turn.

"It's a hardship," Raymond said, pointing out where snow is piled on the suburban sidewalk after a recent storm.

"It's stupid, is what it is," Crystal amended.

To the transit agency, in the big picture, it's a money saver. UTA grandfathered every paratransit rider in its system in the summer of 2007, but stopped offering service to anyone not within walking distance of a regular bus route.

Curbside service for the disabled costs the agency $20 to $35 per rider, UTA General Manager John Inglish said. Passengers pay a $3.50 fare. A year ago lawmakers commissioned an audit and scolded UTA for wasting money with, among other things, big rider subsidies.

"We realized we were providing very expensive service to people in areas that didn't have transit or anything," Inglish said Feb. 3.