Results Are In – Roll In My Shoes Challenge

By: Stacey Kaisers.kaiser@krdo.comFollow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/staceykaiser

COLORADO SPRINGS – We first told you about the “Roll A Mile In My Shoes” experiment Wednesday. That is where some community members challenged a current ballot measure and tried getting around town in a wheelchair for a day. The results are in and it might affect the way you vote on ballot measure 2C.

Just getting to a bus stop is a challenge for many disabled citizens. But imagine getting around town without a bus. The experiment proves difficult to impossible. “There’s only 9 people on those buses so we don’t need the system, well those 9 people on buses have places to go,” said a local transit rider.

We often hear how transit users struggle to get around town. But 4 community members decided to spend one day in a wheelchair to know firsthand the difficulties. “If I hadn’t have cutoff one of the routes by asking my wife to drive me to the first stop, I would have had 3 buses to get to work,” said Silver Key Resource Development Director Paul Koch.

He is one of the men who decided to spend a day in a wheelchair. Although frustrating at times, Koch says he does not know how he would have gotten to work without it. “I would be at the mercy of friends or other family members to get me around, I guarantee my wife could not move me around,” said Koch.

He says it would force many disabled and elderly citizens into isolation. “Not being able to grocery shop on Saturday, not visiting friends on Saturday or going to a Sky Sox game. These are the types of things people may not be able to do,” said Koch.

4 more days until we know the Metro’s fate, that is when taxpayers vote on 2C.