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Life-long Bay Area resident Mary Jones has always been an infrequent BART
customer, but today’s she accessing BART for the first time, with a walker.
Mary, after she had a stroke she ended up relying on her daughter Linda to
take her places, she found she wasn’t able to drive safety.
For Mary Jones, the once familiar Hayward Bart station has brand new first
time challenges.
hello how are you.
HER TRAINER IS ESPERANZA DIAZ-ALVAREZ......AND SINCE BART IS EQUIPPED AND COMMITTED TO FEDERAL
AND STATE GUIDELINES ON ACCESSIBILITY.....THE TRI-VALLEY’S COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR INDEPENDENT
LIVING (CRIL) IS FILMING THE TRAINING SESSION.
GO AHEAD GUYS AND TRY NOT TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA.
YOU SEE PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES USING MASS TRANSIT EVERYDAY....BUT THE AUDIENCE FOR THIS
TRAINING SESSION MAY BE MUCH MORE VAST THAN YOU’D EVER IMAGINE.
wow I would say there are probably hundreds of thousands of people with
disabilities and Seniors with limitations who do not know how to use mass
transit.
MARY JONES HAS NEVER USED A BART RAMP BEFORE. FOR THE FIRST TIME FOR HER, IT’S THE ONLY
WAY INTO THE STATION. SIGNS DIRECT THOSE WITH DISABILITIES TO THE
RAMP.
we’re going to access the ramp and I want you to tell me how you feel about
going down the ramp.
how was that? That was fun. Right, you were hold onto the brake.....good
good good.
YOU MAY HAVE NEVER NOTICED...BUT BART FARE MACHINES ARE SET A DIFFERENT
HEIGHTS TO ACCOMMODATE THE DISABLED.
you think this middle one is better because of the height, for myself I
would use the lower one because I’m sitting down.
ESPERANZA DIAZ-ALVAREZ TRAINED JONES ON HOW TO BUY A REGULAR ROUNDTRIP BART
TICKET AND HOW TO LOAD A CLIPPER CARD.....AND POINTED OUT WHICH FARE GATE
IS DISABLED FRIENDLY....SOMETHING JONES HAD NEVER HAD TO NOTICE, TILL NOW.
so here’s my card, here’s the arrow..sucks it in pull it back out and it
opens the door...so you’re gonna wait out there and do the same thing.
YEA!!!
ALL BART STATIONS HAVE ACCESSIBLE ELEVATOR SERVICE TO ALL LEVELS....AND FOR
THE FIRST TIME...IT’S THE ONLY WAY MARY JONES CAN GET TO THE PLATFORM.
THE YELLOW ZONE IS A SAFETY BARRIER FOR EVERYONE.
THE YELLOW TEXTURED RUBBER TILES CAN BE DETECTED WITH A CANE OR, FOR THE
BLIND, WITH A FOOT.
ALVAREZ-DIAZ, AS AN EXPERIENCED DISABLED RIDER, WARNS JONES TO PAY
ATTENTION TO THE NARROW GAP JONES WILL CROSS WHEN THE TRAIN ARRIVES.
I want to make sure your wheels are not going to get stuck.
ALL BART CARS HAVE DESIGNATED PRIORITY SEATING NEAR THE DOORS FOR SENIORS
AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. STATION ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE
FOR THE BLIND AND THOSE WHO MAY BE HARD OF HEARING.
BAYFAIR IS NEXT. “DID YOU HEAR THAT.”
THAT’S THEIR STOP. THEY DON’T FOLLOW THE CROWD.
THEY HAVE TO FIND THE ELEVATOR....THEIR ONLY EGRESS FROM THE PLATFORM...AND
THE FASTEST WAY TO CALL FOR HELP.
say you want to call the station agent. ...the elevator is not
working.
station agents are vital for that. Fortunately in my experience it hasn’t been
the case except for a couple of times but the station agents have been very
helpful.
THEY EXIT....AND SINCE IT’S A TRAINING SESSION....BEGIN THE PROCESS OF
RETURNING.
MARY JONES, WHO IS IN A LIFE TRANSITION, WILL NO LONGER DEPEND ON A CAR.
NOW SHE KNOWS, SHE CAN DEPEND ON BART.
it’s often scary, and that’s one of the reasons we’e providing the travel
training program to show people they can use public transporation.
We provide workshops on a monthly basis...to introduce them to the system,
to 511.org, how to obtain a regional transit card....a Clipper card for
BART and then we take them one on one on trips until they feel comfortable
with using the service.
IT’S ABSOLUTELY FREE.
there was no problem. No problem. MASS TRANSIT IS VERY GOOD....IT GETS THE POPULATION
WHERE THEY NEED TO GO.
AT THE HAYWARD STATION, MARK JONES, BART TV.