This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 27, 2009 - When some Metro bus routes end and MetroLink trains show up less frequently next week, it will be an inconvenience to some.
Perhaps they'll have to drive to work instead of taking the bus. Or maybe getting home after a ballgame will take a lot longer because extra MetroLink trains won’t be running.
But for the disabled, the drastic cuts Metro has promised for Monday mean more than an inconvenience. They will equal a loss of independence that will be life-changing.
Take Emma Perry, who lives in Oakville. She has struggled for several years to gain the independence she enjoys today.
When she was 53, after 31 years of marriage, her husband put her in a nursing home and divorced her. Perry said, "I went for years and I didn't know what” the disease that began showing mild symptoms at age 14 was.
And doctors - even exploratory surgery - didn’t help.
But a few years after she entered the nursing home, her sister asked a neurologist to take another look. That doctor determined that Friederich's ataxia, a rare neural muscular disease, was causing her symptoms, which include nerve degeneration in the spine.
Because of Paraquad, a nonprofit agency that helps the disabled achieve independence, Perry eventually moved into her own apartment.
Today she happily lives independently. "I'm very busy," she says. Her life is filled with trips to church, Bible study fellowship and the library.
"I go to church a lot," she says. "And I do Bible devotions at nursing homes."
She goes to Paraquad where she exercises and attends advocacy meetings. She also performs in a theater group called the Disability Project.
The reason Perry, who must use a wheelchair, can do the things she does is Metro. "I use it every week," she says. "In fact, almost every day."
More precisely, Perry uses Metro's Call-a-Ride, an affordable door-to-door van service.
By federal law, Metro must operate Call-a-Ride within three-quarters of a mile of a bus route. Metro spokeswoman Dianne Williams puts it succinctly: "When the bus goes away, Call-a-Ride goes away."
On Monday, Metro plans to eliminate all express buses and bus service west and south of Interstate 270 because of a budgetary shortfall. MetroLink trains will also run less frequently.
"I'm hoping to get a job this year and possibly even go back to college," Perry told the Metro Board of Commissioners at a meeting earlier this year.
"I really have a lot of goals but I can't do them without Call-a-Ride," she said.
She asked the board to "reconsider" the massive cuts that will shrink the system by 44 percent. Metro says it has no choice but to cut service after voters in St. Louis County rejected a tax increase in November. The agency says it's about $50 million short and cannot operate in the red.
"I know there are a lot of other people like me who use Call-a-Ride and the bus," Perry told Metro at a public meeting. "They're very important for those of us who can't ask other people to drive us to where we want to go. It's very important to my independence as well as others who need more opportunities to be independent."
On Monday, Perry will still be able to use Call-A-Ride -- if she could afford it. Right now she spends $2.65 for each trip; the new price will be $19.60 each way.
"That's going to affect me a great deal because I go to church and that's where they are cutting out a route," she said. "And $19.60 one way is too much."
Without Call-a-Ride, Perry won't be able to get to her Bible devotions or the other places she goes.
"I'm really heartsick I won't be able to do Bible devotions after March 30 and go my church, which is very important to me," she says. "I go twice on Sunday and once on Monday."
Perry started envisioning how devastated her life will be without Call-a-Ride when the cuts were announced last year.
"I won't be able to go to the library," she says. "I like to go there to do my Bible study and also rent DVDs. And if I want a book, I can get it from the library. I won't be able to do that."
Perry doesn't know Bob Baer, Metro's CEO although he was at the Metro meeting where she spoke. On one thing the two of them are on the same wave length.
"I keep praying," Perry says. "I keep praying that either some other type of transportation that is much more reasonable (will appear) or maybe something miraculous will happen and they'll get more funds. I'm hoping there will be a turnaround."
Baer voiced the same sentiments after a Metro press conference earlier this year.
"We need a miracle," he said.
Kathie Sutin is a freelance journalist.