"I've been bugging them,"
she said of Halfmoon officials.
The town allows people who
are disabled to use the senior
van, but Adam said it isn't
enough. "I've been hit with
dead end, dead end, dead end,"
she said.
The bus doesn't run on week
ends, or in the late afternoon.
Adam also says she can't get to
friends houses on the van.
Finding transportation is an
issue for disabled people from
around the Capital District,
said Donna Suhr of the Capital
District Coalition for Accessi
ble Transportation.
"We've had complaints and
just questions from all over,"
Suhr said.
Technology has increased
individual mobility, through
portable oxygen, scooters and
other innovations, but without
outside transportation, this
mobility stops at their
doorstep.
"Basically you're trapped in
your home otherwise," Suhr
said. "You can get out a lot
more, but at the same time,
you need transportation."
Suhr said she and others
would like to see Saratoga
County served by the STAR
bus system. STAR, Special
Transit Available by Request,
is run by CDTA in the area
served by the Albany area pub
lic transportation provider.
STAR allows people with a
disability who are unable to
use the fixed-route CDTA sys
tem to request a ride.
But just as southern Sarato
ga County isn't served by
CDTA, it isn't served by STAR
either.
Adam said she has friends in
a group home at the Half
moon/Waterford border who
are only a few feet from the
STAR system, which serves
Waterford. She'd like to see
STAR come into her town, as
well.
"Here I don't have any
access to it," she said.
At a recent Clifton Park
Town Board meeting, Disabili
ty Coordinator James Duff
reported to the board that the
lack of public transportation is
a serious concern for the dis
abled in the town.
Suhr said CDTA officials
have told her there isn't
enough demand for public
transportation in the southern
Saratoga County area.
"I have doubts about that,"
she said.
While the majority of south
ern Saratoga County residents
drive, Suhr said individual
mobility isn't permanent.
"It's more like people are
temporarily able," she said.
She said she likes the idea of
an integrated setting, including
people - both young and old
- who have special trans
portation needs using the same
services.
Both Clifton Park and Half
moon offer space on their sen
ior vans to people with disabili
ties.
Adam agreed that she's
happy to work with seniors to
increase their transportation
services.
"Our issue is one in the
same," she said. "We want to
get out."
This is the third article in a
series profiling public trans
portation in southern Sarato
ga County.