Integrated and Continuing Transportation Services for Seniors

The aging of the American population has raised a number of concerns about senior mobility. The New Freedom (NF) program, which was designed to go above and beyond the transportation requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, has been used to fund transportation for seniors. The primary purpose of this paper is to present the results of an exploratory analysis of the social, physical, and functional health and mobility outcomes experienced by seniors who are clients of NF services and the associated Coordinated Human Services Transportation Plan (CHSTP) processes. The paper uses data from primary surveys of the following groups from seven urban, suburban, and rural locations: (a) NF-funded transportation service users, (b) program managers operating the services, and (c) locally selected lead and partner organizations involved in developing the CHSTPs. Results show that concerns about senior mobility vary significantly by a number of functional, social, and physical disability indicators, including instrumental activities of daily living. These indicators are substantially more complex than a chronological accounting of age. A principal component analysis yielded two constructs underlying seniors’ mobility: a transportation deprivation component and an independence and health deprivation component. Each component has implications for different types of services. To the extent that the NF program has supported transportation services that are supplemental to integrated care for seniors and thereby enable a continuum of care, the program has enhanced community-based interventions to meet the complex mobility needs of seniors in the seven locations.