On March 1^st, Hopelink Mobility staff and an experienced volunteer guided a Public Transit Orientation tour for nine recent immigrants who currently attend English for Work classes.

Two out of the nine attendees have never taken a bus in King County before and everyone was excited to practice trip planning, reloading ORCA cards, and getting around town on different types of buses.

The trip also included a presentation about public transportation at Hopelink and a tour at WorkSource Redmond. Everyone received a free ORCA card preloaded with $10, snacks, Redmond Maps, and more.

At the end of the day, everyone agreed that they feel completely comfortable now riding the bus on their own and planning trips. One of the students seemed to be a little bit more quiet in the beginning, but quickly opened up when she was able to talk to the volunteer in her first language Hindi.

Some of the feedback from the attendees included: “I have had a wonderful and rewarding day!”; “It really helped me a lot to learn about transportation resources. I will not forget your patient and friendly explanations."