Time Wasted?

Dear Readers,

It's somewhat common knowledge that taking city buses or even transportation offered to people with disabilities can significantly add time to one's daily routine. I decided to do some math. 

First, here's an average week of trips I have taken with how long it would take to drive a car for such trips:

5 trips to and from schools to teach, 15 minutes each way, totaling to 2.5 hours 

1 trip to and from church at 20 min. 

1 trip to volunteering at 20 min. 

3 trips to study at a coffee shop totaling to 1 hour

1 trip out for dinner at 20 min. 

1 trip to and from the store at 30 min. 

That's a grand total of 5 hours it should take me each week to get around town. Now, let's look at my average actual time during a week in October on the bus:

School trips: average 1.5 hours each way, at 5 round trips, totaling 15 hours 

Church: total of 3 hours 

Volunteering: total of 2 hours 

Studying trips: total of 3 hours 

Dinner out: 3 hours 

Store: 4 hours 

That's a total of 30 hours. That's 6 times the amount of time it would take someone to drive. 

Implications: 

Does this imply that people with disabilities or who cannot drive a car for whatever reason (illness, poverty, you name it) has 6 times fewer obligations in their daily routine than everyone else? That's a rhetorical question. Yes, public and disability transportation systems do provide opportunities. But with unreliable schedules and overbooked routes, we have a long way to go till we find justice. 

Sing as one, 

Sjc