Maddy Thurber, Contributing Writer
VCU is expanding the universities transportation options, providing a new point-to-point service for students with disabilities. VCU now offers the RamsLink Paratransit Service for students, faculty and staff with temporary, permanent or long-term disabilities.
RamsLink operates Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering direct point to point transit with advanced scheduling. Riders can order vehicles through the Ride Pingo app.
“The ultimate goal of that is for disability to be taken into consideration prior to any program being enacted,” said Disability Advocacy and Accessibility Caucus Chair, Shady Habib.
According to Virginia’s Public Media, 31 locations need improvements to make pedestrian infrastructure more accessible.
Habib said that VCU’s integration with the surrounding city limits its control over the sidewalks students use. He noted that poor sidewalk conditions can create significant accessibility barriers and force some students to take much longer routes to get to and from class.
“Another big thing that has been a barrier is actually the commercial scooter, like Lime and Bird, where students don’t necessarily park them in the most respectable sort of area and so they may block off an entire sidewalk where it becomes dangerous for a person who has a mobility impairment to go over those scooters,” Habib said. “Then they’ll have to either cross the street or take a completely different route.”
Habib said his disability causes heat sensitivity, making it difficult for him to spend extended periods of time outside. He thinks transportation should be useful beyond traveling to class.
Transportation options are intended to give students with disabilities another way to travel when other routes may not be accessible.
Josh Stone at VCU Parking and Transportation said the current RamSafe fleet will be used for the service. The vans are ADA compliant and have wheelchair lifts. Stone said the proposal from the Student Government Association and the students involved helped VCU identify the need for the service and determine how to implement it.
Last year the DAAC called for all day accessible RamSafe buses with a proposal, according to a previous report by the CT.
“I can’t say enough positive things about DAAC and the students involved in it,” Stone stated. “They came to us with a detailed proposal, data, and examples from other universities.”
Stone said the proposal helped move the conversation from an idea to discussions about how the program could actually be implemented.
It’s really important for our campus to provide accessible transportation options for students, staff, and faculty, and Ramslink will expand the options for everyone to access transportation so that they can successfully contribute to the life and work of our campus community,” Professor of Focused Inquiry, Elizabeth Kreydatus stated in an email.