Community Conversations viewpoint: Mandy Carter – No ride, no options: the rural transportation crisis
Published: 06-24-2025 2:40 PM |
How might having access to a transportation system in the region benefit individuals and businesses? Possibilities include more-enjoyable commutes, reliable transportation to get to appointments, increased foot traffic for local businesses and a stronger sense of community connectivity.
On Wednesday, June 25, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and Monadnock Center will host a Community Conversation, “Transportation in the Monadnock Region,” where residents, stakeholders and transportation experts can brainstorm solutions for providing an accessible and reliable transportation system.
Danica Melone, Peterborough's director of planning and building, will serve as moderator, and the "conversation starters" will be as follows:
-- Richard D. Scheinblum, executive vice president and CFO of Monadnock Community Hospital.
-- Amanda Carter, Kinship navigator/community resource specialist and advocate at The River Center.
-- Terry Johnson, senior project manager at Southwest Regional Planning Commission.
Each will speak for three to five minutes, and the remainder of the hour will be devoted to questions and comments from the audience.
In the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire, you need a car to survive. That might sound dramatic, but if you’ve lived or worked here without reliable transportation, you know it’s the truth.
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For far too many residents, especially in towns like Peterborough and the surrounding communities, not having a vehicle doesn’t just mean inconvenience – it means isolation, missed medical appointments, unaffordable groceries, job loss and, in some cases, danger.
As someone who works with families every day, I see the toll this is taking on our community. One client – an older adult who had just been evicted – was staying in a hotel while trying to figure out his next steps. He used what little money he had to pay for a taxi to get to Town Hall to apply for welfare assistance. There, he was told, “Go to The River Center—they will help you fill out the application.” So, he paid for another taxi to come see us, but I was offsite in a meeting, and no one else was available. He paid a third fare just to return to the hotel. This man spent money he needed for food and survival just to try and access help. All of that stress, time and cost could have been avoided with two phone calls and one reliable ride.
In another case, a client – an older adult – continues to drive long past the point of being able to do so safely. They know it, but they don’t have any other choice. There are no rides, no buses, and the volunteer driver system can’t keep up with demand. So, they drive anyway, because the only alternative is to stay home and go without groceries or medical care.
Imagine a single mother whose child needs speech or occupational therapy outside of school. If her child has Medicaid, technically, rides to those appointments should be covered, if a driver can be found. In rural areas like ours, there are hardly any Medicaid drivers because rural trips are long, the pay is low and the roads aren’t great.
She may instead turn to CVTC (Community Volunteer Transportation Company), which does incredible work connecting people with volunteer drivers. However, like so many organizations in our region, CVTC is stretched thin and depends entirely on the availability of volunteers. Unfortunately, there is often no one available. That means that mother must now own and maintain a vehicle just to meet her child’s basic health needs. If she can’t get her child to therapy appointments, she risks being accused of medical neglect. The stakes are that high.
Mandy Carter is community resource specialist and Kinship navigator at The River Center Family and Community Resource Center in Peterborough.