“A little bit mobile, but still confused”: Melinda Morris and the invisible riders
By Andre Phillips, a Davidson College Sustainability Scholar and 2024 Sustain Charlotte summer intern
Melinda Morris waiting for the 222 bus at the Eastland Transportation Center
Melinda Morris’s story
For all the reasons we fail to see, the first day of going anywhere on the bus always seems filled with two emotions: confusion and fear — the feeling of not knowing how to get around. The feeling of not knowing which bus route is the right one, of not knowing when to get off the bus, of not knowing which way to go after exiting, of not knowing if the destination will be reached at all.
The feeling of not knowing how to get around is the feeling of being stuck.
It results from not being able to see — from not having enough information. This mixture of fear and confusion, this sensation of stuckness and not being able to see, this feeling of not knowing how to get around is exactly what Melinda Morris has experienced with the CATS bus system since she started using it.
About three weeks before we spoke, Melinda had moved down to Charlotte from Bristol, Tennessee — a city about 2 hours east of Gatlinburg and an hour and a half north of Asheville, right on the Virginia line. On the day we met, she had recently gotten out of rehab and was proud to announce that she was exactly 90 days sober. Before coming to Charlotte, she had never ridden a city bus before, but moving here without a car meant the bus was her only option. So, on top of relocating to a new city and learning how to live a new lifestyle, Melinda had to somehow learn a new system of transportation to get from her new home off N. Sharon Amity Road and Verndale Road, to her classes on Statesville Avenue on the other side of Charlotte. By car, the trip takes about 30 minutes. By bus, it takes four vehicles and two and a half hours. Both ways.
Even after three weeks of riding the bus to class, Melinda is still confused about how to get around. In fact, when I asked her how the bus has made life without a car more possible, her voice bounced with flashes of frustration as she exclaimed, “I don’t think it really has. I mean, I’m a little bit mobile, but still confused.”
Soon she will be starting chemotherapy on Park Avenue and she still has not figured out which bus would get her to the clinic, let alone how she will get back home to shower then go to class after treatment.
On Sundays, based on Melinda’s experience the bus doesn’t seem to run reliably on N. Sharon Amity Road after 5:00 p.m., forcing her to walk three or four miles in the stifling heat to get to where she needs to go. Even when the bus does run, the posted schedules don’t line up with reality. “The one bus should have been here when we got here, you know, and then I coulda went on home,” Melinda remarked, her eyebrows ruffled in bewilderment. “But instead I’m sitting here waiting for 30 minutes.”
What makes navigating even more difficult for Melinda is that she currently does not have cellular service. Without internet access besides the WiFi provided on the bus, Melinda cannot use apps like Google Maps to get directions during her trips. Oftentimes, the bus will go off the main road and onto small backroads through neighborhoods, leaving Melinda worried that the bus will never come back to the road she needs to be on.
On Melinda’s first day taking the bus to her classes, which also happened to be her first day on a city bus, she never made it to class. She ended up walking eight miles in the wrong direction because she had gotten on the wrong bus, and her phone kept giving her the wrong instructions. When recounting the story, she recalled, “It was getting dark and late and…you know, I’m not from here, and it was really scary! And then I tried to go home, and got lost going there too!” Eventually, she decided to call her AA sponsor, and thankfully, they were able to pick her up and give her a ride back home.
The experience was so beyond disorienting that when Melinda got home, she told her housemate, “I’m never riding that bus again.” Her housemate calmly responded, “If you want, I’ll ride the bus with you tomorrow, and get over your fear.”
The fear Melinda felt reminded her of her experience as a motorcyclist. Although she doesn’t have a license at the moment and her Harley is down in Wilmington, she loves to ride and has friends who teach classes about motorcycle safety. With everything else new in her life, the feeling of not being seen as a pedestrian and bus passenger evoked words she had become used to hearing: “It’s the famous last words: I didn’t see him. And that’s a lot–it happens a lot with motorcycle riders. People pull out in front of us because they don’t see us.”
I think Melinda’s words apply to anyone who uses a mode of transportation that isn’t driving, especially those who take the bus.
If people who took the bus were seen, then Melinda would have made it to class on her first day, instead of walking eight miles in the wrong direction.
If people who took the bus were seen, then Melinda wouldn’t have to spend more than five hours of her day commuting between her home and her classes.
If people who took the bus were seen, Melinda would have been able to easily find a route to her chemotherapy clinic and wouldn’t have to worry about getting between her home, the clinic, and classes.
If people who took the bus were seen, then the first day would be easy, the routes simple to follow, the length of the trip nearly as short as taking a car.
But right now, the people who take the bus are not seen, even as they sit there outside in the heat waiting over a half an hour for the bus to come, walking for miles upon miles because they figure out it doesn’t run that day.
It’s time we not just see the people who take the bus, but also make sure the bus system meets the needs of everyone. For Melinda, the way to improve the bus is simple: “More frequency, and less confusion. That’s it in a nutshell. Just those two things.” It’s time we make sure there are more frequent routes so trips do not last over twice the amount of time it takes to drive. It’s time we make sure there are frequent trips on weekends so people do not have to walk for miles in the stifling heat, pouring rain, or freezing cold. It’s time we make sure that the bus system is easy to learn, and that there are easy-to-find opportunities for anyone to be taught how to take the bus. It’s time we make sure that people who take the bus are not “a little bit mobile but still confused.”
Instead, we must make a system where people who take the bus are just as mobile as anyone else and know exactly how to get to where they are going.
Thanks for reading!
As a nonprofit, community support is essential for us to keep doing what we do — including providing free articles like this. If you found this article helpful, please consider supporting Sustain Charlotte.
Want to stay in the loop? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and X.