MassMobility - Issue 68, May 2018

newsletter. Read on for news about funding opportunities that are currently available, a new long-distance medical shuttle in the Pioneer Valley, a statewide age-friendly initiative, and more! This month's issue also includes summaries of our annual conference and two other transportation-related summits held recently, as well as updates on travel training from the Cape, North Central Massachusetts, and Franklin County.

This newsletter is compiled by MassMobility , an initiative of the

Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, with support from MassDOT .

Apply for funding to improve community mobility

May is a busy month for community transportation grant opportunities. Check out this funding programs to see if any are a good fit for your projects:

Community Transit Grant Program - MassDOT's annual competitive funding opportunity for vehicles, operating expenses, and mobility management projects to improve mobility for older adults and people with disabilities in Massachusetts - opens May 14 (due June 11). Contact Alex Cox if you are a new applicant and did not attend a training session.
AARP Community Challenge grants supporting age-friendly communities - due May 16
Helping Hand Mini Grant - small grants to update or enhance transit services in rural and small urban areas - due May 18
Getting Ready to Innovate - six-month grants from the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center to foster innovations that will improve mobility for older adults and people with disabilities - due May 31

New medical shuttle takes Pioneer Valley patients into Boston

On April 9, a new long-distance medical shuttle took its first trip, departing Cooley Dickinson Health Care's Atwood Drive location in Northampton at 6:30am, arriving at Mass General in Boston around 9:30, and leaving for the return trip at 3pm. Free of charge to riders, the shuttle is operated by Partners HealthCare, the parent organization of both Cooley Dickinson and Mass General.

While many services are available in Northampton - and specialists from Mass General visit Cooley Dickinson regularly - patients still sometimes need to travel to Boston for their care. Over the years, many reported that the trip was long and arduous, so in response, the health system launched the shuttle. Initial ridership has far exceeded expectations.

The shuttle operates five days a week (except for holidays). Patients referred to Mass General for specialty appointments or treatment must call 24 hours in advance to reserve a seat and may be accompanied by a friend or family member; riders looking to visit a loved one at Mass General can also use the shuttle. On board, riders enjoy free wifi. A wheelchair-accessible vehicle is available upon request.

This is the latest development in Cooley Dickinson's efforts to reduce transportation barriers to care. Past accomplishments include the Getting to Healthy report and support for a local rural transportation initiative.

Age-friendly initiative takes off across Massachusetts

In January, during his annual State of the Commonwealth Address, Governor Charlie Baker announced that Massachusetts would become the second state designated by the AARP as "age-friendly." Massachusetts was welcomed in the AARP network at an official ceremony in April. Through this network, AARP will help Massachusetts adopt policies to create well-designed, livable communities for individuals ages 8 to 80.

This designation marks an early accomplishment of the Governor's Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts, established by Governor Baker last year to promote healthy aging across the Commonwealth. The Governor's Council brings together leaders from different sectors to formulate a plan for making Massachusetts an age-friendly state. Establishing a statewide age-friendly initiative through AARP was an early recommendation of the Council.

Massachusetts already has significant involvement in the age-friendly movement from municipalities across the Commonwealth. One such leader is Berkshire County, whose 32 cities and towns were formally accepted into the AARP network in 2015. The Berkshire Age Friendly Action Plan was released in November 2017, which serves as a template for addressing the needs of their aging population and creating an age-friendly county. On April 17, Age Friendly Berkshires celebrated the launch of their Age Friendly Action Plan, with Executive Office of Elder Affairs Secretary Alice Bonner delivering a keynote speech, calling the group visionaries for their age-friendly work. The new statewide age-friendly initiative seeks to build on the great age-friendly work begun by municipalities across the state, in Berkshire County and other regions.

Health insurance company donates vehicles to Berkshires COAs

Recognizing that access to transportation is necessary to maintain good health, Fallon Health donated two vehicles to Councils on Aging (COAs) in the Berkshires as part of last year's annual giving program. On March 20, COAs in Adams and Lee each received keys to a new 2017 Nissan Rogue.

In determining how to allocate this year's donations, Fallon Community Health staff attended the Governor's listening session in the Berkshires, where housing and transportation emerged as key barriers to senior quality of life. Fallon then met with Elder Services of Berkshire County to discuss how to best assist, and Elder Services connected them to Erica Girgenti, Director of the Adams COA and Co-Chair of the Berkshire County Regional Coordinating Council on Transportation. They decided to provide one vehicle to North County and another to South County.

Fallon originally offered a 14-passenger van, but since the COAs already had vans, they instead suggested that a smaller, more gas-efficient model with four-wheel drive for winter would better allow them to complement their existing transportation services. The Adams COA plans to use the vehicle for trip requests they cannot satisfy with their existing program, such as rides to medical appointments in Springfield, Boston, New York, and Vermont. Adams is also in talks with neighboring towns Cheshire and Savoy about how the towns can work together to ensure that older adults in all three towns get the rides they need to access medical appointments and social opportunities.

Conference brings community mobility stakeholders together with engineers

Stakeholders from Massachusetts and surrounding states came together on April 10 and 11 at the DCU Center in Worcester for the 2018 Innovation and Mobility Exchange. The conference - a merger of the Massachusetts Community Transportation Coordination Conference and MassDOT's Innovation and Tech Transfer - featured two days of innovation, emerging technologies, and community transportation, creating an opportunity for attendees to explore the interaction between infrastructure, transportation, and mobility.

The conference kicked off on Tuesday with MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito delivering the opening plenary. Breakout sessions throughout the day included topics such as complete streets, MassDOT's healthy transportation initiative, and a roundtable discussion on women in transportation.

Community transportation content was featured on the second day of the conference. Breakout sessions covered topics such as mobility as a service, healthcare transportation, mobility in rural areas, partnering with transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft, microtransit, engaging employers in community transportation efforts, and creative approaches to funding. Robin Lipson, Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer at the Executive Office of Elder Affairs, delivered the lunchtime keynote, highlighting the importance of transportation to age-friendly communities. An afternoon plenary session featured a panel discussing autonomous vehicles.

The two days provided an opportunity for human service agency staff, Councils on Aging, transit agencies and other transportation providers, planners, advocates, MassDOT staff, engineers, and researchers to gather with one another to share ideas, learn about best practices, and network. In addition to the plenaries, breakouts, and networking, over 60 exhibitors and sponsors were present to interact with attendees in the exhibition hall, which featured a full-scale indoor complete street.

If you have feedback about this year's conference or suggestions for future years, please let us know!

Stakeholders discuss transportation education for transition students

Educators, support organizations, transportation providers, parents, and self-advocates gathered on April 13 for a day-long symposium to brainstorm how to support educators in integrating transportation information into the transition planning process that helps students receiving special education services prepare to leave the school system and enter community life. In school districts across Massachusetts, many students with disabilities participate in transition programs that help them gain key skills, such as financial literacy, job experience - and sometimes, opportunities to learn about transportation options.

After a welcome from Easter Seals Massachusetts and national Easterseals staff, attendees heard from a panel of three young people with disabilities about their experiences learning to use transportation. Current transition student Brandon Blais discussed how he uses the Worcester Regional Transit Authority bus to get to work except on Sundays, when he uses Uber or Lyft because his shift starts before the bus begins running. Austin Carr shared how he learned to use THE RIDE, and Adam Tasha discussed his experience learning to drive with hand controls. All three emphasized how important it is for them to be able to travel independently.

The majority of the day was dedicated to World Café-style small group discussions of thought-provoking questions designed to elicit a range of creative ideas. Participants shared their ideas about what resources are currently available; what the barriers are; creative goals that can be incorporated into an Individualized Education Program (IEP) to support transportation awareness; parental involvement; opportunities to develop relationships among schools, transit authorities, and service providers and for educators to get involved in mobility management; and opportunities and challenges presented by newer services like Uber and Lyft. Participants thought about transportation broadly, discussing travel training but also paratransit, ridesourcing, and driving.

Easter Seals Massachusetts will be using the information that emerged as the basis to develop a guide for schools to use on how to incorporate transportation education into transition planning. Funding for the project was provided by the Easterseals national office, through a grant from the Administration for Community Living through the Transit Planning for All initiative.

Advocates gather for Summit on Accessible Transportation

On March 27, transportation advocates and professionals gathered for the Summit on Accessible Transportation at the Boston Public Library. The event was organized by the City of Boston Mayor's Commission for Persons with Disabilities, the Access Advisory Committee to the MBTA (AACT), and the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The event was an opportunity to provide input on accessible transportation needs in the Boston region.

The summit began with remarks from Kristen McCosh, the Disability commissioner for the City of Boston; Jim White, Chair of AACT; Lisa Weber, Consumer Programs Coordinator at Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation; and Laura Brelsford, Assistant General Manager for System-Wide Accessibility at the MBTA. Anne McGahan of the Boston Region MPO then spoke about Destination 2040, the organization's 20-year transportation plan, currently in development. MPO staff is using events such as the summit to help identify mobility needs in the region.

The bulk of the day was spent with attendees broken up into smaller groups and engaged in two listening sessions based on areas of interest. Topics included sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, accessible parking, subway and commuter rail, paratransit services, transportation network companies, taxis, and autonomous vehicles. Each group was assigned a facilitator who asked participants to consider the topic at hand and how it could contribute to improved mobility. For example, the conversation in one of the autonomous vehicles listening sessions centered around how to incentivize manufacturers to design driverless cars for those with limited mobility and how to ensure pedestrian and bicyclist safety during testing and implementation of autonomous vehicle technology.

Jen Rowe, Public Participation Manager at the Boston Region MPO shared, "When we approached the Disability Commission about this event, we asked to host a listening session about transportation with a dozen or so people. The Commissioner and her team anticipated that the topic would generate greater interest. I now realize how right they were. I was thrilled to see such a great crowd and blown away by the knowledge, energy, and creativity in the room. The people at my table had so much to share with us planners - and with one another."

Cities expand low-income bike share program

Hubway, a Boston-area bike share system, is now accessible at a reduced cost to low-income individuals through the SNAP Card to Ride program. The municipalities of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, and Somerville partnered together with the Department of Transitional Assistance and Motivate, which operates Hubway and other bike share systems, to offer the income-eligible program.

SNAP Card to Ride launched in January as part of a larger initiative to improve access to alternative transportation options for traditionally underserved populations. Hubway provides membership options at either $5 per month or $50 per year for income-eligible riders. The program grew out of Boston Bikes ' subsidized Hubway membership which offered a discounted rate for income-eligible riders; the expansion allows streamlined registration for Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card holders. The growth is part of the Go Boston 2030 mobility plan to make transportation affordable to those who need it most.

Online registration is available to EBT card holders. In-person enrollment assistance is available at partner locations for those 16 and older who are income eligible or participate in assistance programs, such as MassHealth, Social Security Income, public housing, or others. Once registered, members have access to a network of 1,800 bikes at nearly 200 stations in the four participating municipalities.

Looking to try biking? Check out this year's Bay State Bike week. Bike-centric events are being held across the Commonwealth from May 12 through 20 to encourage new riders and raise awareness about biking as a mode of transportation.

Videos help people learn to ride the bus

Complementing relatively new travel training programs, both the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) and the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) recently published videos introducing viewers to their transit systems. They hope the videos will provide an additional source of information for people who may be interested in riding the bus, but feel wary of trying it when they are not familiar with how it works. Funding from the 2017 Community Transit Grant Program supported both projects.

In developing the content for MART's video, Communications and Grants Manager Bonnie Mahoney asked bus drivers for their input, since they see and hear firsthand about riders' confusion every day. CCRTA's video features actual CCRTA drivers and passengers, and inspired a new campaign: "How I CCRTA." Currently, the CCRTA videographer is interviewing some of the drivers and passengers from the video to develop a set of "How I CCRTA" features that CCRTA will be able to use on their website and in commercials. Two are already available - one featuring a rider with disabilities and another highlighting a driver - and more are on their way.

Travel training helps Greenfield High School student with independence

Mass Mobility

thanks Chelsea Ennis, Greenfield High School Life Program student, for submitting this guest article. If you would like to submit an article or have an idea for a topic,

please contact us.

I'm currently a student at Greenfield High School, in The Life Program. I'm still learning about how to take the public transportation buses. I started out taking the public bus with my class to my volunteer jobs. I have been doing this, with a group, for a couple of school years. Recently, I have been taking the public bus independently. Now, every Friday, I take the bus by myself, to my independent work site.

I think it helps people that don't have cars because they can use the public bus, so they can go places they need to go and you only have to pay $1.25 to ride. And if my own means of transportation is indisposed, I can use public transportation as a back-up.

Also, I've been practicing the schedules of the arrivals and departures. This helps me to learn elapsed time, a real world skill, which will help me when I age out of my program at the end of this school year. I recently got my driver's permit, but I am very grateful that I was exposed to travel training during my time at Greenfield High School's Life Program, and I will continue to use the FRTA when the need arises.

FRTA orients human service agency staff to transportation options

On March 26, human service agency staff from local organizations gathered at the Olver Transit Center in Greenfield for an orientation to transportation services provided by the Franklin Regional Transit Authority (FRTA). Staff from FRTA and the company that operates their buses shared an overview of the types of services FRTA offers - such as fixed route, ADA service, and MassHealth trips. They took participants on a tour of the FRTA website and led exercises in reading bus schedules and using trip planners. MassMobility also presented briefly on state resources available to help organizations offer travel training. At the end of the day, participants had the option to stay for a bus ride so they could experience it for themselves. Prior to the session, only half of attendees had ever ridden an FRTA bus.

This was FRTA's second annual orientation for human service agency staff. FRTA developed the workshop in 2017 after a number of local human service agencies said that they wanted to help their consumers access FRTA services but were unfamiliar with what was available. Afterwards, FRTA was pleased to see an increase in human service agency staff reaching out to them with questions. "We are always looking for ways to support our partner agencies here in Franklin County and to help people access the transportation services we offer. Offering this orientation is not only a way for us to share information about our system, but also to develop relationships with partner agencies in our region," shares FRTA Administrator Tina Cote.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following Massachusetts organizations for being recognized for their work in the field of mobility!

The MBTA Plan for Accessible Transit Infrastructure (PATI) team earned one of this year's WalkBoston Golden Shoe Awards. Under PATI, the MBTA's Department of System-Wide Accessibility recently finished auditing 7,643 bus stops for accessibility and safety in an effort to increase ease of connection to bus service for riders, especially those with disabilities.

CrossTown Connect received national recognition for a decade of progress and creativity in the National Center for Mobility Management blog.

Congratulations to this year's winners of the Excellence in Commuter Options (ECO) awards, given to Massachusetts businesses, colleges, universities, healthcare providers, municipalities, and state and federal agencies for their efforts encouraging employees to choose environmentally-friendly and healthy commutes. Seven Spotlight Award winners were recognized for creative and innovative approaches, such as hosting an employee transportation open house or an Alternative Transportation Week to showcase different modes and benefits available to employees, hosting bike share stations, offering a bicycle benefit of $20 for each month an employee bikes to work, and more. MassRIDES and MassCommute organize the annual ECO Awards, in partnership with MassDOT.

Are you a mobility manager?

A mobility manager is someone who

Helps older adults, people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and others learn about and choose transportation options that will help them get where they need to go, and/or
Works to coordinate different transportation services to improve mobility and/or efficiency

The AARP is creating a national inventory of mobility managers because they recognize that mobility management helps older adults live well in their communities. If your job includes some mobility management - or something related - let us know and we will put AARP in touch with you to follow up.

Share your thoughts on MassDOT's Capital Investment Plan

MassDOT is seeking public input on the Capital Investment Plan (CIP). Public meetings are scheduled around the state for May 15 through 31. The CIP covers all of MassDOT's projects and capital spending across all divisions. Public comment will open on May 15, and MassDOT wants to hear from everyone. Whether there is a roadway project impacting your community, a service your clients or constituents rely on, or a gap in knowledge that could lead to a research project, MassDOT wants to discuss those opportunities and involve you in this process. Learn more about the CIP and how you can share your feedback.

Job posting

The MBTA Travel Training program is hiring a mobility trainer.

Who is MassMobility?

For those of you who only know us through the newsletter, MassMobility is a state initiative based at EOHHS which also receives funding from MassDOT. We seek to improve mobility for seniors, people with disabilities, and others in all regions of Massachusetts by sharing information about existing services and supporting organizations in their efforts to fill transportation gaps. We provide presentations to human service agency staff to help them learn how to help consumers find transportation, and we also provide technical assistance to any organization looking to address transportation challenges. We welcome you to contact us any time if you have a question or idea for a project that would improve mobility for seniors or people with disabilities.

Follow us on Twitter

Are you on Twitter? If so, follow us @MassMobility for links to community transportation resources relevant to organizations and agencies here in Massachusetts. If you aren't on Twitter, you can still see our posts online at twitter.com/MassMobility/.

We want to know your stories

If you have suggestions for news items or topics to cover in future newsletters, please contact us or submit a guest article. Comments, questions, and feedback are also welcome.

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Please forward this newsletter widely to others who are interested in mobility management, community transportation, or related topics and encourage them to subscribe to receive future newsletters and publications.

You can also read past issues of all MassMobility newsletters.