Vivian on Transportation.

When I first moved to the United States, I needed to get a Hawaii driver’s license. This required first getting proof of residence and a non-driving state ID, then passing a written test, practicing driving on the right side of the road instead of the left, and ultimately passing a road test. I know English and already knew how to drive, so this wasn’t difficult, but I did think often about immigrants in whose languages the written test was not available.

During this process, I still needed transportation to get to stores, doctor’s offices, government offices and everywhere else.  Fortunately, Hawaii County’s mass transit agency sold booklets of inexpensive tickets that were accepted by local taxi companies on a shared-ride basis, providing door-to-door service to supplement the fixed-route bus system.  These tickets were widely used by seniors, medical patients, shoppers, and commuters whose workplaces were not on bus routes.

I took to the system easily, having grown up in Uganda, where there were multiple layers of public transport, from unregulated and dangerous boda-boda motorcycle taxis weaving through traffic with women riding side-saddle to private door-to-door cabs, shared “special” cabs that could be found waiting near main intersections, taxi vans like the matatus of Kenya following fixed routes in the city or between towns, and small and large motorcoaches for longer distances.  Traffic in the city center of Kampala may have been heavy, but it would have been far worse if all those passengers had each been driving their own car!

Arriving in the 14th Middlesex district – my first and only home on the U.S. mainland – I quickly realized that I did not have easy access to public transportation.  My family had a rental car for about a month (a privilege many immigrants or households with incomes lower than ours could not afford) while we searched for a used car to purchase.  Even then, we only had one car, which was primarily used to get my husband to work in the next town, since no public transit-served his workplace.  It took two years for us to add a “daily driver” for me.

Having lived elsewhere and experienced public transportation in multiple countries, I am committed to improving public transportation in our district to ensure that everyone can easily access shopping areas, train stations, workplaces and community gathering places, and to prevent isolation for seniors and those without personal transportation.  As a state representative, I will work to secure funding to improve or expand existing services, including town-run senior shuttles and circulator buses, Lowell Regional Transit Authority coverage in the district, and the MBTA Regional Rail Fitchburg Line.  I would also like to work with municipalities to develop a system for shared-ride taxis, like the one I used in Hawaii.

Transportation and Climate Change

With the new climate bill recently signed by the governor, we also need to address the fact that the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions comes from transportation.  As a state representative, I will work to secure funding to reduce emissions by electrifying transportation in our towns.  This includes building EV-charging-ready infrastructure in both single-family and multi-family dwellings, and electrifying buses used for cross-town connections, senior transport, and student transportation. 

I will also work to improve the regional rail transportation many people in our district depend on, by increasing the frequency of service, electrifying the Fitchburg Line and other regional rail lines, and supporting transit-centric housing.  And other means of emissions-free transport cannot be overlooked in a district that is home to much of the wonderful Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, so I firmly support the creation and maintenance of trails for non-motorized use, and “Complete Streets” improvements to make our roadways safer for pedestrians through measures like crosswalk improvements and addition of sidewalks where they do not exist.

Regionalization of Transit

I worked with Uganda’s National Planning Authority on programs under the African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), including those aimed at regional socio-economic transformation and development involving neighboring countries.  Uganda is landlocked while Kenya and Tanzania have ports, so trade and transport between the countries are important.

Representing NEPAD Uganda at the NEPAD East Africa Subregional Experts Meeting a dozen years ago in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, I contributed to collaborative discussions of strategies on regionalizing transportation infrastructure to boost economic activity, along with developing structures to effectively coordinate other NEPAD programs in the region.

Although transportation is a critical infrastructure for driving socioeconomic development, public transportation in our district is disjointed and incomplete.  While there are circulating buses in some areas, provided by the Lowell RTA or individual towns, many common destinations lack public transit service.  And there is little service between towns in our district, which would help provide larger audiences for local businesses and make it easier for residents to connect socially, improving the quality of life for everyone in our district.