Judy Shanley, National Director of Transportation & Mobility and the assistant vice president of youth transition for Easterseals, shares about the importance of transportation services for older adults in our nation.
Transportation networks across states and local communities are often fragmented and siloed. The transportation service that an older adult uses to get to a medical appointment may not be the same as the service that they use to access food or groceries. It is often difficult to navigate local transportation networks and understand eligibility or payment procedures associated with these various services. Fortunately, many states have mobility management networks and professionals called mobility managers whose job is to coordinate and connect people to transportation options that enable them to reach destinations including health care, social events, school, and work.
Mobility management connects people to various transportation options including buses, bikes, trains, and shared ride services. Mobility managers are sometimes thought of as community transportation coordinators. Communities offer various transportation services and mobility managers to help the public decide which service is best aligned with their needs.
Connecting to Mobility Managers
AmeriCorps Senior volunteers can tap into these important transportation resources to support the identification and execution of transportation services. For example, the AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program of Nevada Rural Counties provides escorted door-to-door transportation for homebound, and low-income seniors, persons living with a disability, and veterans who are no longer able to drive themselves. The AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program partners with the Nevada Department of Transportation and AARP Foundation to offer volunteers specialized driver’s training. The program also partnered with NDOT further to secure vans that helped expand their transportation services to other counties.
AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers in the RSVP program are trained to share information learned about these services among their friends or use the services themselves. Individuals can connect with mobility management in their communities through a variety of ways.
- The National Center for Mobility Management, a national technical assistance center funded by the United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration that helps AmeriCorps Seniors program directors to identify state mobility management networks and engage their volunteers.
- Contact your local planning organization, regional council, or council of governments for:
- List of planning organizations.
- List of regional councils or council of governments.
- Explore resources on your state’s Department of Transportation website.
Questions to Ask Once You’re Connected
Navigating community transportation services can be difficult for everyone. Connecting with mobility management professionals, whose expertise can support access to services is important. AmeriCorps Senior volunteers can serve as the conduit to mobility managers and help older adults and others identify the services that are best aligned with individual needs. These questions can be the foundation for important conversations between AmeriCorps Seniors projects and mobility managers representing the transportation sector:
- What are the eligibility requirements for the various transportation services available in your community?
- What documentation does the service need to prove eligibility?
- Do I pay the full cost of the trip or is the trip subsidized by any source?
- How do I make reservations for the service? Do I have to arrange the trip in advance, or can I arrange for the trip when I need it?
- Do I use a telephone or computer to arrange for the trip?
- How do I arrange for accommodations or support on the service?
- Where can I learn about the schedules and routes that the service offers?
- Are there customer service representatives that can help me navigate the trip?
To learn more about AmeriCorps Seniors visit AmeriCorps.gov/Seniors. For information on the National Center for Mobility Management visit NC4MM.org.
Judy Shanley, Ph.D. serves as the national director of transportation & mobility and the assistant vice president of youth transition for Easterseals.