When depending on Rome’s public transportation system is all you have

by Chelsea Hoag

ROME, Ga. – In one of life’s cruel ironies, Rome’s Deanna Roberts is from Detroit – Motor City – but has no car to call her own. This makes her one of Rome’s regular customers of the Rome Transit Department and its many Main Line and Day Tripper buses.

Deanna, Desmond and Zelia Roberts

Simply being able to go where you want to go when you want to go there is a luxury most Rome residents likely take for granted. For the under-resourced of Rome, it’s not that simple, as the area’s preponderance of title pawn shops attests.

Going to the Dollar Store near Goodwill on Hicks Drive, for example, takes Roberts nearly two hours round-trip from her home in West Rome.

“I don’t like riding the bus,” Roberts said. “It’s late, and we’re waiting there for a whole hour. Or it’s early, and we’re standing there wondering where the bus be at.”

Riding the bus as a college student

A business and cosmetology graduate of Georgia Northwestern Technical College, getting through school posed logistical challenges. She often reported late to class because of the whims of the bus system. She said she often had to leave class early or stay late at the end of the day to catch the next bus home. To pass the time, Roberts said she did homework or read over her class notes from the day.

Deanna’s route from her home on Tamassee Lane to Georgia Northwest Technical College on Maurice Culberson Drive in Rome.

“If you say you’re going to be here at a certain time, you should do that,” she said. “People gotta go to work or pick their child up. . . . It’s little stuff, but (the RTD) isn’t thinking about that.”

Of all of the transit systems in the state, Rome’s is one of the smallest according to the Community Transportation Association’s digital magazine for Georgia public transportation. The area’s population dictates it. The result of limited service is inconvenience, even hardship for the many who depend on the buses to get to work, school and the grocery store.

Rome’s main bus line runs between 5:40 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with an average of one hour between buses. And it runs only on weekdays, according the Rome Transit Department website, which isn’t always accessible.

Rome’s Doris Redwine Ford boards the 2A bus to Wal-Mart at 4 p.m. on April 9. When she was a child, Redwine said her father used the buses to get to and from work.

When the bus is late

For Roberts, this has meant catching the 8 a.m. bus to get to, for example, municipal court for a 10 a.m. appearance. She arrived at 8 a.m., because sometimes the bus is early and she needs to be able to count on the next one. This proved a good move, because on this particular day, this is precisely what happened. So she had roughly an hour to kill at the bus stop waiting for the next one.

Despite her best efforts, Roberts arrived late for her court date because her bus ran late. A car ride to court would have required but 10 minutes.

On another occasion, the bus skipped her stop, even though she was standing in the right spot.

“I was wondering, how could you pass me up?” she said. “Either he didn’t see me or didn’t care.”

“To provide professional, safe and effective public transportation, increase ridership and keep operating cost to a minimum.” – from the RTD’s mission statement

Roberts said she doesn’t take her children with her on the bus because she doesn’t want them standing in the cold or heat for long periods of time. Her alternative is a taxi, which costs $20 to $25 no matter where she needs to go in Rome.

A one-person fare on the bus: $1.25.

Ideally, Roberts said, a bus would come by every 15 minutes as opposed to one every hour, which is only on weekdays.

Phyllis Lee, assistant transportation director for the RTD, said low ridership and high costs conspire to constrain the department in the services it can provide.

“We understand the passengers’ request to have transportation after 6:30 p.m. during the week and on the weekends,” she said. “Unfortunately, due to low ridership during those times, when we did provide service on the weekends, we were not able to operate our services and still be able to meet the vision set forth by the department.”

Lee did not respond to followup questions about what changes would need to be made in order to extend the main line bus services.

Now, Roberts calls the bus station to ask where her bus is on the route if it doesn’t show up on its scheduled time. Though the system is less than ideal, she said being proactive in this way helps her cope mentally.

“They say life gives you lemons, so you make lemonade,” Roberts said. “Well, that’s my lemonade.”