Education Session - Transportation: Life without a car

The reality of life for more than 8,000 households in our county who do not have a car was laid bare at our educational session on Transportation held on January 11, 2012. Carol Cronin moderated the conversation with our panel of experts: Pam Brown, Executive Director, Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth and Families; Dave Humphreys, Executive Director, Annapolis Regional Transportation Management Association; and Barbara Rasin Price, Founder: Community Transportation Association of America & President of Echoes and Accents.

The panelists described the difficulties of finding funding for transportation as the economy worsens, the effort to provide transit access from public housing communities to jobs at Anne Arundel Medical Center and Fort Meade, and the nonexistence of public transportation in rural areas. In her assessment of critical transportation needs, Barbara Rasin Price described how “a ride can change a life” for women and families. Dave Humphreys pointed to The Department of Aging and Disabilities van transportation system as a good example of a system that performs very well, one that could be expanded, perhaps, to include more residents. According to Pam Brown, "More middle class families in our country are losing ground economically, and transportation is always a part of that. It doesn’t help to create jobs if we can’t get the people who are falling into poverty to those jobs.” However, she described Anne Arundel County as the most collaborative county she has ever worked in, and only in need of “one person, one agency, one legislator that can bring this issue front and center. What we need in this county,” she concluded, “is a passionate champion for public transit.”

Many thanks to our Education & Program Committee -- Judy Coughlin, Chair; Maureen Cavaiola, Assistant Chair; and Carol Cronin, Programmer -- for engaging our members and guests on this vitally important topic.
Pictured from left :  Panelists and AAWGT members Barbara Rasin Price, Dave Humphreys, Judy Coughlin, Carol Cronin and Maureen Cavaiola. Photo: Brenda Anderson