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PUBLIC TRANSPORATION
By Michael Bodley and Isabella Broggini
In Alamance County, access to fruits and vegetables can come with a price tag of not just money, but also a car.
In Burlington, especially, fast food-rich strips such as Huffman Mill Road pack the vicinity with cheap food, options that aren't the most healthy. But in some working-class neighborhoods, fast food eateries on corners or gas stations or convenience stores can be the only option for residents to go to for food.
The many Burlington residents who lack their own form of reliable transportation (no formal data are kept, but some experts peg it in the thousands) are limited in where they can go for food. Vegetables aren't often an option. Fruit can be a luxury, seafood or higher-end meats a pipe dream. Many of these same people rely on SNAP benefits or other government supplements to make ends meet in a state with an unemployment rate of 5.5 percent, right in line with the U.S. average of 5.5 percent.
In a county lacking a unified public transportation system, including a bus-line, lower-income residents without cars are forced to turn to creative solutions to get from Point A to Point B. Long-awaited plans to bring a fixed bus-line, though, are expected to rollout in summer 2016, which stakeholders say will bring much-needed transportation options to people who have for years lacked them.
Burlington resident Anna Williams knows she's now one of the lucky ones. The native Floridian came to North Carolina by way of a complicated passage that involved truck-driving, table-waiting and other odd jobs of all kinds. She now has a car, a beat-up early 2000s Ford Explorer, which she said has improved her eating habits by a wide margin.
- Williams waits for food at Allied Churches.
"There's just not options without a sturdy set of wheels." Williams said, sitting outside Allied Churches of Alamance County on a recent afternoon, where she patiently waited her turn to shop for free food at the organization's food bank.
There are options for those without a car, though they may seem few to some. Elon University's BioBus provides a free way for both students and Town of Elon and Burlington residents to hop on and traverse a fairly large section of the county. The route, though, is limited, stopping mainly at destinations that are of interest to Elon students, according to some locals who ride it and wish it could go other places, too.
Burlington's poverty rate of 21.9 percent ensures plenty of people don't have access to reliable transportation, increasing the importance of services such as the BioBus to those who utilize them. Residents can take the Downtown/East Burlington Bio Bus loop to get to 9 different stops: Walmart, the Company Shops Market, Elon University, the Boys & Girls Club, Cummings High School, May Memorial Library, Alamance Health Care, Burlington Housing Authority, and Allied Churches.
Cummings High School senior Donavan Hutags, a Burlington resident, takes the BioBus about three times a week to cut down on a long walk or a hitched ride.
"I would probably be walking, or trying to find me a ride [without the BioBus],” Hutags said.
That Downtown/East Burlington BioBus route draws the most local riders, according to Keith Dimont, automotive services manager for Elon University, who oversees the BioBus program. The total number of riders for 2014 to 2015 was 130,210. Of the Downtown/East Burlington route, the public ridership outnumbered the student ridership over the same period, 3,360 to 1,116.
Dimont said the upcoming transit plans announced by Burlington offers an opportunity for the BioBus and the university to connect even more locals to free public transportation.
"As Burlington city leaders move forward with plans to begin a transit system, we will look for opportunities to connect our BioBus routes with those of future bus line," Dimont said in an email. "Those connections will open up more transportation choices for our students and other public riders."
There is another option other than the BioBus, though it doesn't have a fixed line and the same hours. The Alamance County Transportation Authority (ACTA) receives a mix of funding in order to provide low-income and disabled residents of Alamance County with a reliable way to get around.
The service operates a number of vans that can be reserved one day in advance for a nominal fee of usually $10 round-trip from any two locations in Alamance County (though the fee fluctuates depending on available funding and also any special programs such as disability that the rider might qualify for.)
"We're trying to fill an apparent gap in our county's transportation system, especially before [the new Burlington bus system] comes online," said Ralph Gilliam, executive director of ACTA.
Now, though, it's not just high school students who use the BioBus and other related services.
Many older Burlington residents, such as unemployed resident David Jones, also rely on the BioBus to get around town.
“If I had a way to drive, then yeah I probably would," Jones said. "But this is more convenient right now."
Before Jones found out about the BioBus at Burlington’s homeless shelter, Allied Churches, he walked to get to his old job at Steak 'n Shake.
“I could walk there in like about an hour, hour and fifteen minutes, and that was like 8 miles,” Jones said.
Although Jones appreciates the option, he wishes that Burlington offered more transportation options to its residents.
“For a lot of people who don’t have money and rides and stuff, it’s hard to get around," Jones said.