Texas Transit Association

Transportation was identified as the single greatest need in the county according to a study sponsored by the United Way of Brazoria County. The county also needs to improve housing and health care services, according to the study.

The needs of many
By Yvonne Lim
The Facts (Brazosport), July 20, 2003

EDITOR’S NOTE: “The Needs of the Many” is an occasional series of stories based on the United Way of Brazoria County’s 2003 Community Assessment, a study of the county’s health and human services needs. This is the first installment of that series.

Teresa Johnson, a single mother of 11, has been looking for a job. But a lack of transportation keeps her home and unemployed.

Johnson’s rent is covered by the federal government and she receives $539 in food stamps and $284 in cash every month, but she has difficulty making ends meet for her family.

“I can’t pay my bills on $284,” said Johnson, a Sweeny resident. “That’s the problem: Transportation. I’d much rather have a job. I could make four times that with a job.”

For groceries, Johnson will often hitch a ride with neighbors. The nearest store is two and a half miles away. When the cash runs thin at the middle of the month, Johnson will rely on food pantries such as The Amazing Place in West Columbia for food and diapers — if she can find a ride.

Transportation was identified as the single greatest need in the county according to a study sponsored by the United Way of Brazoria County. The county also needs to improve housing and health care services, according to the study.

The study, released two months ago, was the first to utilize feedback from the community, said Joe Gardzina, associate executive director for United Way of Brazoria County.

Ultimately, the study found that in Brazoria County, all roads lead to transportation. Without transportation, residents can’t access health care. Without transportation, residents can’t find work. Without steady income, people can’t afford decent housing.

An estimated 4.7 percent of households or about 40,000 people, including children, in Brazoria County live without a vehicle, Gardzina said. The county spans 1,387 square miles, larger than the state of Rhode Island. And with hospitals, clinics, industry and retail stores spread throughout, getting around can be difficult.

“It’s the same old story,” said Gardzina about the unemployment rate. “If you can get people back and forth to work, that number goes down and more people are paying taxes. You can’t talk about an issue without it tying to transportation. It’s major.”

In the face of state and federal budget cuts, local governments and agencies will need to cooperate more to establish county-wide public transportation, said County Judge John Willy. But it is too early to discuss details of a system, he said.

“It’s typical of government — it’s a slow process,” Willy said. “The county itself cannot afford to furnish transportation for everybody. Not enough is being done, mainly because of the lack of funds.”

The greatest need

The greatest need for help may be in Freeport and the West Columbia area, where U.S. Census numbers show poverty levels are highest.

Cities located West of the Brazos have a deep need for transportation help, said John Orr, executive director of The Amazing Place, a food pantry in West Columbia. Without transportation, services are few and far between in West Columbia, Damon and Brazoria.

“The only clinic is in Sweeny,” said Orr. “But if you don’t have a car, what difference does it make if it’s in Sweeny? We have a lot more poverty than people realize. A lot of poverty is based on transportation.”

Orr described the lack of medical services and the decrepit living conditions of many residents West of the Brazos. In addition to the food pantry, The Amazing Place is working to provide a central location for several services such as the Women, Infants and Children program, a mobile prescription assistance program and a local job fair.

“The big thing is mobility, accessing other services, communication — and that’s a long, hard battle to fight,” Orr said.

Pilot program

Last year, Connect Transit ran a pilot bus route from the north end of the county to the south end, continuously from 5:35 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The program ran for about nine months on county funds matched with federal grant money.

At its peak, ridership reached about 150 passengers among four buses shuttling from Freeport to Pearland.

The number of riders grew weekly, enough to indicate a need for a fixed route system, said Paulette Shelton, director of Connect Transit.

But for some, the numbers were not high enough to justify continued spending on the project.

“The numbers were increasing, but they weren’t increasing like they should have,” said County Commissioner Dude Payne, who represents southern Brazoria County. “I have so many needs in my precinct that I don’t think I could justify it to my district.”

Ridership numbers probably suffered because the program only lasted for a short time and riders might have been hesitant to depend on a temporary bus route, Shelton said.

Payne said he is not currently working to continue a public transportation system for the county.

However, a bus system does currently exist. Connect Transit runs 11 buses throughout the county, making about 500 trips a day Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The buses each run door to door, to and from any point within the county for 50 cents one-way or $1 for a round-trip. A rider must call at least 24 hours in advance to make a reservation.

After her car engine failed from flooding, Linda Phillips needed a way to get to work. She has subscribed to Connect Transit for about a year and a half to transport her daily from her Clute home to her workplace in Lake Jackson.

“It’s been a lifesaver,” Phillips said.

Travis Smith, a Lake Jackson resident, used to ride his bicycle to Clute until he injured his leg. Now he rides the Connect bus twice a week to the Angleton Danbury Medical Center for physical therapy. His only complaint is the wait.

“They’re slow,” Smith said. “It takes an hour to an hour and a half to get home. Sometimes it’s right there, sometimes it’s an hour.”

Transit is not just about buses, said Shelton. It means better roads, commuter services, parking, sidewalks and help for busy families who spend a large portion of their day shuttling kids back and forth. It means options, she said.

“Transit can help economic growth,” Shelton said. “Retail grows around transit. It helps with traffic, air quality and parking problems.”

Shelton said the county needs to expand bus services for those who need transportation in evenings and on weekends. In addition, the county needs more commuter services.

Easing the commute

About 70,000 vehicles commute from Brazoria County to Houston each day, said Carol Nixon, director of planning for the Houston district for the Texas Department of Transportation. The department sponsored 11 “park and pool” lots in the county where commuters can park their cars and carpool to Houston.

“If you look at park and pool lots, it’s overflowing everyday,” Shelton said. “That’s a good indicator of demand for commuter services.”

Billy Frank Row, Jr. has used the “park and pool” lot near Highway 288 and Highway 35 every work day for the past five years. Row, an electrician for Fisk Electric, said his job often requires travel to Houston. He said a commuter service would be popular.

“If they had a park and ride to downtown and the medical center, it would be wonderful,” Row said. “There are a lot of construction hands who would need it. I think people would pay for it.”

Row said he paid about $300 a month for gas for his Toyota truck before he began carpooling. Carpooling allows him to save more than half that amount, he said.

Finding the money

County Commissioner Jack Harris, whose precinct covers northern Brazoria County, said transportation is a problem, but there’s not enough funding to support a public transportation system.

“We get phone calls all the time from elderly and disabled who just want to go to the grocery store and there’s no way they can do that,” Harris said.

Lake Jackson, Angleton, Richwood, Clute and Freeport have helped Connect Transit to access “small urbanized area” federal funds for transportation. Although Connect has acquired enough federal matching grants to continue existing services, Shelton said she will work with city governments to take full advantage of federal dollars.

“We need to build local support more than anything,” Shelton said. “If elected officials hear from constituents, they’ll take the necessary steps.”

In the meantime, Johnson will continue to depend on friends for a ride.

The Connect Transit bus, which at maximum capacity holds 15 passengers, is too small for her family to rely on. It’s inconvenient and expensive to schedule an appointment for the post office a mile away, but a fixed route bus would provide the flexibility she and her family need, Johnson said.

“Primarily, I need a vehicle,” Johnson said.