After nearly 11 years at MassMobility, I will be starting at MassDOT in the Rail and Transit Division on September 12 as Manager of Grant Programs and Mobility Management. In this new role, I will have the opportunity to oversee the Community Transit Grant Program and undertake other efforts related to expanding mobility for older adults, people with disabilities, and others in Massachusetts. I look forward to joining the Rail and Transit team, and most of all I look forward to continuing to work with you all: the transit authorities, transportation providers, aging and disability services agencies, advocates, planners, riders, and others who work hard to assist riders and expand mobility.

Please join me in thanking EOHHS and the Human Service Transportation (HST) Office for hosting MassMobility since 2011. While HST is not currently planning to rehire any MassMobility staff, some MassMobility projects will move to MassDOT with me. I welcome you to reach out if you have questions or suggestions about this transition.

Please join me in thanking Rachel for all that she has done to advance mobility for seniors, people with disabilities, and others during her time at the Human Service Transportation Office. Rachel has planned several successful Mobility Management conferences and forums while providing technical assistance to advocacy groups and municipalities in the development of mobility programs and services. It has been my pleasure to work with such a dedicated and committed transportation professional. We will miss Rachel at the HST office but look forward to future collaborations with her mobility endeavors at MassDOT. Onward and upward, Rachel!

Jenna Henning, who most recently served as Manager of Grant Programs at MassDOT and previously worked at MassMobility, has left MassDOT to attend law school. Please join us in wishing her the best!

The MBTA shared accessibility information for the orange line closure scheduled for August 19-September 18. Learn more about closures and service alternatives.

MassDOT is partnering with the Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) to update all data within Ride Match to ensure this online, searchable database contains comprehensive, up-to-date information about public and private transportation options in all communities in Massachusetts. MassDOT has contracted with AECOM to update existing entries – starting with Regional Transit Authority and Council on Aging services – as well as enter new transportation providers that are not yet listed.

If your organization offers transportation services, please be on the lookout for a call or email from Desirae, Diane, Henry, James, Leon, or Patrick at AECOM so they can make sure your service is accurately represented! Working together, we can make Ride Match a fully robust tool to help with identifying transportation options and finding rides in all parts of the state. And if you know of a missing or incomplete transportation entry in Ride Match, or if you have your own list of transportation options in your region, please let us know!

Ride Match is a statewide, online, searchable database of public and private transportation options in Massachusetts. You can find transportation options that serve your city or town, or “plan a trip” to find options to take you from your starting point to your destination. Ride Match was developed with older adults and people with disabilities in mind, so right on the homepage you can check off if you need accessible transportation. GATRA originally developed Ride Match over 10 years ago so they could assist riders with information about other services above and beyond what GATRA offered. The tool worked so well in Southeastern Massachusetts that they received a grant from MassDOT to expand it statewide, which they did in partnership with the other transit authorities.

WalkBoston – a nonprofit that works statewide to make walking safer and easier in communities – has compiled information on how to report street or sidewalk problems for all 351 municipalities in Massachusetts. Check out their new “How to Report a Problem” interactive map to get contact information for local and regional authorities in charge of street and sidewalk issues. Learn more in the WalkBoston blog and National Center for Mobility Management blog.

This tool was inspired through work WalkBoston has been doing with the Massachusetts Travel Instruction Network and family caregivers through an Age-Friendly Walking Grant from Point32Health Foundation. Walkability issues arise during travel training all the time, since riding fixed-route transit requires the ability to walk (or roll) from your home to the bus stop, and from the bus stop to your destination. Facilitated by MassMobility, the Massachusetts Travel Instruction Network is a peer networking group for transit authority staff, aging and disability service providers, and educators and transition specialists who provide travel training in Massachusetts. In June, WalkBoston provided a virtual “Ped 101” presentation to network members on how street design influences walkability, and in July a group of travel trainers met with WalkBoston staff in Worcester for a walk audit of a bus stop.

Massachusetts now has nine newly trained CarFit event coordinators who can organize and run CarFit events, thanks to an event coordinator and technician training delivered by Andrea Cordis, Massachusetts CarFit State Coordinator & CarFit Instructor, on July 25 at the Jenks Center in Winchester. CarFit is a joint initiative of AAA, AARP, and the American Occupational Therapy Association to promote older driver safety and mobility by assisting drivers in understanding how they fit in their vehicles and making adjustments to improve comfort and safety. During CarFit events, drivers have a 20-30 minute session with a trained technician and an occupational therapy practitioner.

Expanding the CarFit program across Massachusetts was a recommendation of the Governor’s Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts, and the first step to offering more events is to train more staff to plan and run events. On July 25, Cordis led participants – representing Councils on Aging and other municipal staff from a variety of municipalities from Hopkinton to Brewster – through a technician training in the morning, covering everything staff need to know to help drivers during an event: going through the CarFit checklist to assess whether drivers could fit more safely and comfortably in their vehicle by adjusting their seat, seatbelt, head restraint, steering wheel, or mirrors. After lunch, Cordis delivered the event coordinator training, going over the procedures and tools CarFit provides for setting up and running events. As a follow up, the Jenks Center hosted a CarFit event on August 8, where participants were able to practice their new skills while assisting 10 older drivers.

Cordis plans to offer an additional training this fall in Western Mass. For more information, contact Andrea Cordis or check the CarFit website for upcoming technician and event coordinator trainings. You can also search for upcoming events or access an on-demand, virtual CarFit workshop.

The Community Compact Best Practices Program opened for applications on August 15 and remains open until funds are exhausted. Municipalities can apply for funding related to Best Practice areas, including age-friendly efforts and safe mobility.

Congratulations to the seven transit authorities and 138 municipalities that received funding in the most recent round of Shared Streets and Spaces grants!

For additional funding ideas, check out the MassMobility funding for community transportation webpage.

Registration is open for the fall 2022 semester Online Professional Certificate in Organizing and Managing Transportation Options for Older People. Join Helen Kerschner, Director, Volunteer Transportation, Shepherd’s Centers of America and Nina Silverstein, Professor, Gerontology Department, UMass Boston in their ninth year of offering a professional certificate to people working in the fields of transportation and aging through the Gerontology Institute and the College of Advancing and Professional Studies at UMass Boston. This fully online course has both asynchronous modules and biweekly synchronous virtual classroom sessions on Wednesday nights. Learn more and register. A few scholarships are available; contact Nina Silverstein for details.

The recording of the Mobility Management in Massachusetts virtual forum from February 2022 is now available online! Organizations and staff can use mobility management strategies to facilitate mobility - by working directly with consumers to help them become aware of and learn to use the options available to them, and/or by working with transportation providers and other stakeholders to coordinate and expand mobility options. To share examples of exemplary mobility management work happening in Massachusetts, MassMobility, MassDOT Rail and Transit, and the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative collaborated on a virtual forum, featuring presentations from a transition specialist, an Aging Service Access Point, a Council on Aging, and a transit authority, as well as from the National Center for Mobility Management. Watch the recording and learn more about mobility management.

The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC) is accepting entries for their photo contest through September 30. Individuals and organizations can submit photos related to transportation for older adults and people with disabilities.

MassDOT’s Beyond Mobility initiative wants to understand community members’ views on how to prioritize limited resources across transportation investments. An online survey about trade-offs is open through October 14, or check the schedule of in-person outreach to see where you can connect in person.

WalkBoston is hiring a Program Manager.

The Franklin Regional Transit Authority is hiring a Transit Ambassador/Mobility Travel Trainer.

Many Regional Transit Authorities, the MBTA, and human service transportation providers are looking to hire drivers, while volunteer driver programs need additional volunteers.

Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here

You can read all past issues of the MassMobility newsletter in our archive