As a part of city council, and one of my main goals in general, I will focus extensive efforts to support and improve a robust and sustainably funded public transportation system in Pullman. Further, Pullman Transit has already been doing a great job in applying to grants to put electric buses on the ground and I am happy to encourage their pursuing of various grants to continue making the transition to electric buses. 

From a regional standpoint, Eastern Washington area especially lacks public transportation that is reliable, fast, frequent, and accessible to everyone. There are currently 4-5 daily routes that go between Lewiston, Pullman, Moscow, and Spokane, which is extremely bare minimum service, considering how often people travel between these cities. I would like to advocate for inter-city commuter expresses, which are a part of few regional/county level public transportation infrastructures. We should consider how we can move people from farther locations into city centers through public transportation as a long-term sustainable solution, especially as cities become larger. However, it will take a long time to implement, but I am planning to at least plant the seed when I connect with the Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization (PRTPO)! I hope to become an official city representative for PRTPO. One of the biggest ways to combat climate change and reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce the amount of cars on the road and increase public transportation options. 

I recognize that public transportation may not be feasible for everyone for a variety of reasons. From a broader view of the state of commuting in the Palouse region, we need the public transportation infrastructure that is far better than what we have now to reasonably move away from individual cars. Right now, the main way to get out of Pullman is by owning a car or knowing someone who has a car. I still have much to learn about what could be done in this area, but to support the purchase of environmentally sustainable vehicles for workers, it would be great to find a way to help subsidize the cost of buying an electric car. Partnership with the Community Action Center would enable me to get advice on how we can provide that possibility to low-income earners, such as applying for grants with a focus on environmental sustainability goals.

In terms of ensuring that community members with disabilities have the transportation resources they need to move from place to place, services like Dial-a-Ride should continue to be offered, however be expanded as an on-demand service. I think, by supporting more funding towards public transportation, which includes commuting options other than buses, we can encourage vans which are used for Dial-a-Ride to also become fully electric vehicles. I will work with Pullman Transit to see how we can have a fully sustainably public transportation infrastructure which includes the services which our community members with disabilities use.