Baystate Health and Caring Health Center are partnering with the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) to reduce transportation barriers to healthcare in Springfield through the RideCare pilot. Originally set to launch in 2020, the project was delayed when the pandemic caused healthcare providers to refocus their staff capacity and pivot to telehealth. More recently, Baystate and Caring Health were able to return to the pilot, and it formally launched in May. The Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts and Professor Moumita Dasgupta are providing support on the evaluation.

In 2019, PVTA received a federal grant to implement RideCare. The idea – which grew out of a Design Thinking process funded by the National Center for Mobility Management – was to embed Transportation Specialists within healthcare organizations to assist patients with arranging transportation to healthcare appointments. Baystate, a large system, has hired a dedicated Transportation Specialist who supports patients at three sites. To date, much of her work has been learning how to assist patients in using MassHealth PT-1 transportation. Caring Health, a smaller system, got a van through PVTA and hired a driver. A coordinator at Caring Health assists patients in scheduling their transportation on the Caring Health van. The RideCare evaluation team is working to collect data on both approaches to analyze the return on investment in hopes that this model can be sustained beyond the grant period.

“During the Design Thinking planning process, we found that the two pain points patients experience with transportation are access to a ride, but also anxiety that something will go wrong with the transportation – that it will be late or won’t come at all,” explains Dasgupta. “What we’re seeing is that part of the value of having a person – not just software – helping patients coordinate transportation is that the staff person can help the patients with their anxiety, language barriers, and any of the other issues affecting their mobility.”

Four Massachusetts organizations recently won national grants. Congratulations to MassBike and the Westport Council on Aging for receiving AARP Community Challenge grants for age-friendly transportation projects. In addition, the Federal Transit Administration announced winners of two national grant opportunities: the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority was selected for an Areas of Persistent Poverty Program grant, while the City of Salem won an Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility Project award.

Twelve organizations in Massachusetts, from Western Mass to New Bedford, received 2022 Transportation Justice grants from Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA). Organizations will use the funding to support projects promoting equitable mobility and engaging riders around transit, biking, and climate justice. T4MA offers this annual grant with funding from the Barr Foundation.

Want to apply for a grant? Check out our funding for community transportation webpage.

In partnership with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security, the Human Service Transportation (HST) Office has debuted two new webpages to share information about MassHealth transportation with members:

MassMobility recently published a new webpage highlighting programs that support older adults and people with disabilities in walking and cycling. Active transportation for older adults and people with disabilities is the newest addition to our online collection of information about transportation options targeted to individuals looking for rides, as well as the care partners and staff helping them.

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.

In addition to the forum recording, check out:

Check out the National Center for Mobility Management (NCMM) for information about mobility management in other parts of the country. The National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC) has some great information as well. Transit Planning for All has resources on how to engage older adults, people with disabilities, and other riders in your transportation planning and decision-making. Subscribe to the NCMM and NADTC mailing lists for notifications about grant opportunities and webinars from each organization.

NCMM also has online forums where mobility managers (and others who use mobility management strategies) can connect directly and learn from peers. Register for the Mobility Management Connections platform to connect directly with mobility managers in other states. You can also try out a new platform – MyNCMM – which you can join by clicking “Register” at the upper righthand corner of the NCMM website (if you have already registered for NCMM, use your same login credentials). The system will prompt you to fill out or update your profile, and then you can search for the “Massachusetts Mobility Managers” group.

NCMM is also compiling a database of promising practices in mobility management. If you have implemented a new or enhanced method of delivering mobility management that improved people's ability to travel in their communities, submit your promising practice for potential inclusion in this national database.

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.

As Massachusetts reopens and as residents of all ages start to increase their trip-taking, we want to make sure everyone is driving as safely as possible, and CarFit is one easy way to do that – but in order to offer CarFit events throughout Massachusetts, we need you! Join us on Monday, July 25 in Winchester to get trained to organize and staff your own CarFit events.

The July 25 workshop is a full-day training in two parts:

Important: if you would like to be able to organize and run your own events, please make sure to sign up for both the morning and afternoon sessions. If you just want to help adjust the cars at other people’s events, you may register for just the morning.

If you have questions, please contact Andrea Cordis, MA CarFit State Coordinator & CarFit Instructor.

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 Human Service Transportation Office is hiring two Transportation Compliance & Quality Assurance Coordinators. Applicants who live in Western Mass or Northeastern Mass are especially encouraged to apply.

WalkBoston is hiring a Program Manager and a Program Coordinator.

The Franklin Regional Transit Authority is hiring a Travel Ambassador.

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

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