Planning for the Transportation Needs of Older Adults

This is an excellent example of generating and creating awareness among the users . I think the older adults must also be represented in the marketing campaigns planned by the transit commission.

I think that this idea would carry even more weight if Seniors were the ones doing the travel training. If agencies collaborated with one another to train a core group of community leaders, these individuals could act as peer mentors and train others.

That sounds like a great program. I look forward to learning more about it. Thanks for the link.

In Connecticut, the DOT has contracted for several years with The Kennedy Center to provide travel training services statewide. The program was originally intended to enable ADA paratransit riders who are primarily persons with disabilities to travel independently on fixed route buses. In recent years, however, the program was expanded to provide a travel trainer who is dedicated to working with older adults. Typical concerns that can be overcome with travel training are how to access route and schedule information, how to pay fares, how to be sure one is getting onto the right bus, and whom to ask with questions.

In Middlesex County (NJ), the county community transit system has contracted with NJTIP, Inc., a agency that also provides travel training for the NJ Transit Access Link ADA paratransit program. The county program involves two 2 hour classroom sessions with 10-12 seniors to instruct participants on the training issues described by davelee.Participants are then provided excursions with smaller groups of 2-3 participants to practice the skills on a live transit trip.

WMATA contracts with local Centers for Independent Living (www.ncil.org has a directory) to provide transit travel-training in the DC metro area.

In the Mpls./St. Paul area Metro Transit offers a few, free travel training appointments to seniors and disabled citizens that is wonderful, but it is not advertised on a on-going basis or in a manner that is widely seen by the population that needs this training. I'm not sure if there is a staff person at Metro Transit that is assigned to this specific task, if so, they need additional hours or staff time to increase the awareness of this training. Many seniors and disabled citizens are scared to ride their buses and don't know about the training.

Ride Connection is Portland, Oregon has a number of travel instruction programs. RideWise, the travel training program they operate for TriMet, provides one-on-one training so that riders of ADA-paratransit can transition successfully to fixed-route transit.

Ride Connection also has a transit-awareness program for senior retirement communities. (NCST has a description of the Ride Boards to residences with information on public transit -- nearby bus stops; bus routes, destinations. Ride Connection also has Ride Ambassadors, usually older persons themselves, who arrange group outings. TriMet provides free fares - I think. You can learn more at www.RideConnection.org. Also, Julie Wilcke, Ride Connection, is mbr of NCST's Advisory Committee, is good resource.

Two of the many great resources available for Travel Training models, concepts, practices, etc are the Association of Travel Instruction (ATI) and Easter Seals-Project Action. While there may be a focus on people with disabilities, the guidance is a good place to start when developing Travel Training for Seniors. Nice to see Ride Connection respond - it is a model program.