September 2008 News	News page		Archive
WMCAP summer intern Nicole Jackson recorded her experience riding the Community Action Bus Line.

Washington-Morgan Community Action wants to inform more people about the CABL or Community Action Bus Lines. With the rising cost of gas, CABL provides Washington County residents with the opportunity to travel throughout the city of Marietta and the surrounding area for only small fee.

Here’s what she experienced:

It’s ten till 9:00, have I missed the bus or am I running on time?!? I’ve never ridden the public transit bus before so I don’t even know how I pay to get on the bus; is there a machine that takes your money or do you hand it to the driver? I’m still hurrying across town, down Front St. and then I hurry down Putnam, and jump across to the bus stop in front of the Court House.

I see two buses, now I’m wondering which one to take. I don’t really have a destination today, but what if I did, which one do I choose? Two other people are waiting to catch the bus at this stop. I talk to the driver of one of the buses and tell him about what I am doing, and how I don’t know which bus to take. He tells me his route, and I thought it sounded okay so I get on.

I go to hand him my money, and he points to the machine, so I dropped the money (only 80 cents) down into a machine--question number one finally answered! He said that he takes the route C-East. I have no idea what that means but I figure it will be a good loop around town. It’s time to leave and I’m the only one on the bus, so off we go on the C-East route. After going down Front Street, we head down Greene Street and to Food 4 Less. No passengers to get off and none get on, so we continue down Seventh St., by the transportation center and out onto Pike Street. We enter the Lafayette Shopping Center, and then over to K-Mart. For those who enjoy shopping, this was definitely the route to be on!

Still, I’m the only one on the bus route, and no passengers have gotten on. The bus driver tells me that the end of the month tends to be less busy with passengers. Next, we venture over to Krogers, and then down to Kenwood. The bus driver gave me a brochure on the CABL bus lines about half way through the route, and it really helped. I finally learned what C-East meant, and what other routes are available. Each bus has a letter in the front window indicating which route they are, and then the map in the brochure says where that goes. After going through Kenwood, we head back up Pike Street towards Wal-Mart and Lowe’s and then go to County House Lane in Reno. The driver informs me that they only stop at Wal-Mart every other hour, and on the other hour he drives over to the West Side to other locations. We continue to go up County House Lane and stop at the Washington County Home, where two passengers decide to get on. The bus has a lift in the back for passengers who can’t get up the stairs or who are handicapped-- the buses are equipped for all riders. The older woman uses the lift because she has a walker. These two passengers are going to Wal-Mart and Dollar General. They know the routine much better than I do! We drop the first one off at Wal-Mart, and then head back down Pike Street to the Kroger area to see if there are any other passengers, and then take the other woman to Dollar General. Now we retrace our steps, and we are finally almost done.

The bus driver says that they usually do not have younger people ride the bus, mainly senior citizens Now, some younger children are riding to the Marietta Aquatics center.

We finally make it back to Second Street and I realized that for $0.80 I sure got to travel a long way. So, the overall verdict of the CABL bus lines is that you can go far for a very small amount of money. They have 5 different routes available, and you can even go to Parkersburg or Belpre from Marietta for a dollar or so (2.00 or less, depending on distance). The ride was safe and clean and I can’t understand why more people would not consider taking the bus in town. No hassle with parking and you save gas money; a win-win situation.

For more information on CABL and to learn more about the routes please contact Washington-Morgan Community Action at (740) 373-3745.