CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — People in the Champaign-Urbana area are asking for mass transit’s help. They’re struggling to get to doctors’ appointments and don’t have an answer yet.
MTD Trustee Phil Fiscella is asking permission to talk to landowners around the Carle hospital located on Curtis. If the board agrees, he can reach out to see if they would be willing to become a part of the district, allowing Mass Transit District to place a bus stop at the clinic.
“Very frequently we’re getting emails or people coming to board meetings,” Fiscella said. “Saying, hey, I couldn’t get to my doctor’s appointment, my mother couldn’t get to her doctor’s appointment.”
This is an experience of far too many, according to Darya Shahgheibi, Greater Community AIDS Project (GCAP) Executive Director.
“Whenever you have a seizure, you can’t drive for six months.” Shahgheibi said. “You get put on a six-month driving hold. And so, either have to walk or take the bus.”
Unfortunately for her, the bus wasn’t an option. She needed to go to the Curtis clinic to pick up medication when all others were closed. The closest she could get was 30 minutes away on foot.
“And I had my daughter with me,” Shahgheibi said. “And so, she sat on my shoulders, and we walked together. She’s seven years old.”
But Darya is one of the lucky ones.
“A lot of my clients, they can’t do this. Some of them use mobility aids. Some of them are just medically fragile,” Shahgheibi said.
There are other options to get straight to the clinic, but those have their own issues.
“It’s a good way out of town,” Fiscella said. “Uber is a fantastic resource, but it’s, like many things in the gig economy, the pricing is variable. So, if you happen to have a doctor’s appointment on Mom’s weekend, your pricing is going to be a lot higher than it will be at other time.”
Ubers can cost as much as $50 round trip, a price not everyone can afford.
Fiscella is willing to solve this problem. He needs landowners in the area to commit to being annexed for MTD services to run there. He said he would pay the difference in taxes those landowners would receive.
“We want to remove obstacles that prevent people from using transit and make sure everybody has the best quality life they can,” Fiscella said. “The best way to get this done to make sure we can access all of the sources of funding, so this doesn’t fall on local taxpayers and gets picked up by you know, our normal source of funding, which is mostly state, is to make sure that this facility is in the district.”
If the board approves, Fiscella said his next step would be drafting letters to send to each landowner. He hopes talking with these people will convince them to be part of righting this wrong.
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