How I would improve transportation in the District: Cleaner buses, more parking garages

Walking is cool because I get to see what’s going on in my city. Is it safe? In some parts of the city, yes, and in some parts, no. Where there is shooting and killing and drug dealing, it’s not safe for the kids to walk. You never know when there is going to be a drive-by shooting, because of gun violence in D.C. 

I rode the bus today, I ride the metro sometimes, and I catch Uber sometimes. It’s good if you can’t find parking to take public transportation or to use Uber or Lyft. But sometimes people on the bus don’t have manners and they’re disrespectful. It’s also sometimes unsanitized because the seats are not getting sprayed down. I see that they wear masks on the bus, but I think we also need Lysol, so that the bus driver can spray it on the seats to keep the germs down.  

With gentrification, more construction companies are building in the city, and there is more traffic. I think they need to slow down with the real estate construction in the city and really come up with a plan for where the cars are going to be. With more traffic, it’s hard for the fire department and the ambulances to get through and respond to public safety needs. It could lead to more crime if people feel like the police can’t get there on time. That’s going to become a big crisis in Washington D.C.  

It’s a problem when you can’t find parking. People come to restaurants, clubs and office buildings and find that you can’t park your car there. Business owners and employees can’t really find parking when they have to go to work. It’s rough on entrepreneurs trying to work in the city and bring the economy up, and also on tourists coming into the city.  

I think there should be signs put up letting visitors, tourists and citizens know they can’t park their car there at a certain hour, so their cars won’t be towed. I think that people are getting confused about where they are supposed to park downtown. It’s frustrating a lot of people who  sometimes have to pay a ticket that they did not know they had to pay.

The government needs to start a parking garage, so that people who work in D.C. can park their cars somewhere safe and where they won’t get a ticket. Then there would be a shuttle bus to drop these people in certain places on a schedule. Or there could be a special Metro bus for government employees and entrepreneurs. It could be funded by taxes, or the government could charge a little fee for membership. This would help bring more funds to the city, fix the economy and make the city better than it is now.  

Maurice Spears is a vendor with Street Sense Media.

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