Public Transportation

On several occasions, while volunteering at the church service centers in Avon Park, I would ask some seemingly able bodied aid recipients the reason why they were not working. Quite often, the answer given was a lack of transportation to get to and from work on a regular and dependable basis.

At first I questioned that response but, upon reflection, I concluded that the lack of public transportation in the Avon Park-Sebring area is more than just an inconvenience; it is definitely a real hardship for many of our constituents.

In fact last month, while traveling along Memorial Drive I stopped to pick up a walker and asked him where he was heading. He said "Homer's Restaurant." He informed me that earlier that morning he had been called to come in to work on his day off, and to start working by 8 a.m. Unfortunately, due to a lack of transportation, he had started walking the six mile distance to Homer's and had managed to reach that point at approximately 8:45 a.m. After dropping him off at the restaurant, he proceeded to thank me and rushed off to his job.

I would submit that it is virtually impossible to get to the business area on U.S. 27 without a car. Some attempt to do so by bicycle, but jeopardize their own lives as well as those of others in the process.

Isn't it about time that some form of rudimentary public transportation be adopted in the Avon Park area? Perhaps at the top of each hour, a bus could make a loop starting at the Stop and Save, then to Memorial Drive, then to Albertsons, then by going south on U.S. 27 to the Lakeshore Mall and then returning to the Stop and Save by going north on U.S. 27. Maybe a nominal fee of $1 could be charged for each person getting on the bus.

In any event, I believe that it is now high time for the citizens of Avon Park to consider acting on some form of public transportation. Aside from assisting the needy and elderly in their search for employment, health care, groceries and clothing, it would help in cutting down on the gas consumption in our area.

Raymond Stebbins
Avon Park