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Our mission is to increase transportation options for older adults and enhance their ability to live more independently within their communities throughout the United States.

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For Older Adults/Caregivers

Looking for transportation in your area?

Try contacting a local service agency like the Area Agency on Aging, Aging, Disability Resource Center, or an Indian Tribal Organization. These agencies often provide information about transportation options specific to local communities. Older adults and their caregivers can call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116 to identify these resources in their area.

Welcome to the older adults and caregivers section of the National Center on Senior Transportation Web site, offering information and free resources to help you become more familiar with transportation resources and services available in your community.

The resources listed below offer directories of transportation-related services, information about safe driving, and policy discussions. Easter Seals Transportation Solutions for Caregivers project created a number of valuable resources for family members and other caregivers.

Transportation Providers and Programs

If you are looking for help finding senior friendly transportation in your region the Transportation Guidance page provides links to resources that will help you.

Safe Driving Programs

AARP's Driver Safety Program (http://www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety/)

Safe Driving for Older Adults, tips for older drivers from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/
OlderAdultswebsite/)

Supplemental Transportation Programs for Seniors - a report by the Beverly Foundation and the AAA Foundation that discusses the importance of different Supplemental Transportation Programs and transportation options for older adults once they stop driving. (http://www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/STP2.pdf)

Mobility Options

Getting By Without Driving, a brochure published by the American Medical Association was developed for older drivers, caregivers, and physicians to provide safety information and driving alternatives for older Americans. Ideas and alternatives for driving are included, along with information on home delivery services and agencies offering assistance to older Americans who do not drive. (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/433/get_by_without_drive.pdf)

The Surface Transportation Policy Project, in coordination with AARP and the American Public Transportation Association, wrote Aging Americans: Stranded Without Options (pdf) which concludes that as Americans grow older, our existing transportation network is unable to meet their needs of the nation's aging population particularly as they become less willing and able to drive. (http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=232)

The Eldercare Locator's brochure, called "Transportation Options for Older Adults: Choices for Mobility Independence," is designed to encourage and assist family conversations about transportation needs and concerns. The free brochure, download a text version here, can be acquired from the Eldercare Locator by calling 800-677-1116. It describes various types of transportation services for older adults, such as Volunteer Drivers, Paratransit, Door-through-Door, Public Transit, Travel Training, and Transportation Vouchers. The brochure also lists key questions to ask transportation providers to determine the best options to meet individual needs.

Community Livability

AARP's Policy and Research section of its Web site offers extensive content related to the topics of housing, mobility and care options (www.aarp.org/ppi/liv-com)

The Complete Streets initiative endeavors to build road networks that welcome all citizens not just drivers. (http://completestreets.org/)

Aging in Place Initiative - a publication by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) and Partners for Livable Communities that helps community leaders in developing an action plan to ensure programs and services are in place so that communities are good places to grow old. (http://aipi.n4a.org/)

Eldercare Locator

A telephone and web based service of the Administration on Aging (AoA). Older adults and their caregivers can locate eldercare resources, local area agencies on aging and community-based organizations in any state. (http://www.eldercare.gov/)

Vision Loss

The American Federation for the Blind has developed a section targeting older Americans diagnosed with low vision. The site links to a comprehensive database of senior services covering both the United States and Canada. (http://www.afb.org/seniorsitehome.asp)

If you have a disability

Easter Seals Project ACTION is a national program that brings together the issues of people with disabilities and providers of public transportation. If you have a disability, you have rights to access wherever a public transportation system exists (this extends to providers of taxi service and over-the-road bus service, such as tour vehicles). ESPA also offers information on how to use transit and explains rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. (http://www.projectaction.org/)