Texas Transit Association

Seven million Americans over age 65 who do not drive — including at least 66,000 people in the north Texas Metroplex — and those numbers are expected to nearly double in the next two decades.

A study released Wednesday from the Surface Transportation Policy Project in conjunction with the American Public Transportation Association (”APTA”:http://apta.com/) and the American Association of Retired Persons (”AARP”:http://www.aarp.org/), warns that older Americans without access to public transportation are becoming increasingly isolated. These nondrivers make fewer trips to the doctor and lose contact with friends, relatives and churches.

The report is available by accessing this “page”:http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=232.

*LEFT BEHIND*
Unable to drive, thousands of senior citizens exiled to their homes
By Gordon Dickson Star-Telegram Staff Writer Apr. 15, 2004

Ruth Nichols belongs to the Grapevine Garden Club, but doesn’t remember the last time she attended a function.

She recently gave up driving because pressing the brake pedal hurt her right leg. The 79-year-old widow rarely leaves the house anymore, except for a van ride to bone cancer treatments every few weeks.

Nichols is among 7 million Americans over age 65 who do not drive — including at least 66,000 people in the Metroplex — and those numbers are expected to nearly double in the next two decades.

A study released Wednesday warns that older Americans without access to public transportation are becoming increasingly isolated. These nondrivers make fewer trips to the doctor and lose contact with friends, relatives and churches.

Nichols can’t deny the loss of freedom.

“I had some great automobiles in my time — a T-bird, a Rally Sport Camaro,” she said Wednesday on the way to her doctor’s appointment. She rode in a low-fare van operated by Northeast Transportation Service (NETS).

“Now, I’ve got a 1988 Buick Regal in the garage,” she said. “I guess I will sell it. Somebody’s going to get a great car.”

Texas is one of the worst areas in the nation for senior citizens who have surrendered their car keys, according to the study released by the Surface Transportation Policy Project, a Washington-based group that lobbies for increased spending on buses, trains and other forms of transit.

Even in areas where there are plans to improve public transportation, the routes typically are designed for working-age adults, said Anne Canby, president of the group. For example, commuter rail trains that are served by park-and-ride lots may be of little help to residents who can’t drive to the station.

“We need to get serious about planning for the needs of older Americans,” Canby said. “We need to be thinking about the link between where this population lives and where it wants to go. In suburban areas, it’s going to require some real figuring out.”

More than one in five Americans over age 65 doesn’t drive, according to the study, which is titled Aging Americans: Stranded Without Options. Of those, more than half say that on a given day they simply stay home in part because of a lack of transportation options.

“When seniors don’t have an option to drive anymore, they don’t like to ask others for a ride,” Canby said. “They feel like a burden on their children. That precedes the isolation factor.”

The study, which is based upon results of a nationwide survey conducted in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Transportation, also found that older nondrivers:

• Make 15 percent fewer trips to the doctor, 59 percent fewer trips to shops and restaurants, and 65 percent fewer trips to church or to visit relatives.

• Use public transportation widely in places where it’s available. In 2001, nondriving seniors took 310 million trips on public transportation.

• Are more likely to be stranded if they are minorities, low-income or rural residents.

“I don’t want to go to New York. I just want to go to church,” said Louise Carbonaro, 83, a Roanoke widow. On Wednesday, Metroport Meals on Wheels delivered a hot lunch to her door. “All I can say is, 24 hours alone is hard.”

The study recommends that Congress spend more money on public transportation, and that cities across the U.S. do a better job planning for seniors’ needs. Also recommended are improvements to roads, sidewalks and bicycle paths.

Hubert Chandler Sr., 86, who lives in southwest Fort Worth, has no plans to stop driving. He pays close attention to his driving habits, to ensure he’s in firm control at all times.

He hopes to remain behind the wheel well into his 90s. He admits to being overly cautious, often waving other drivers through stop signs to ensure that he isn’t involved in an accident.

“I go to the bank. I go to the Food Mart on Vegas Trail. I play the lotto,” he said. “If I couldn’t drive, it would be sad indeed.”

Boundary lines

Metroplex leaders acknowledge that wide gaps in bus and train service make it difficult for older Texans to use public transportation. Only about a third of the Tarrant County population is served by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, and many of the fastest-growing cities are outside its jurisdiction, president Dick Ruddell said.

To help fill those gaps, leaders from four Metroplex counties are debating how to form a regional transit authority, possibly by 2005. They say older residents’ needs will be factored into the plans.

But today, there are many problems in delivering dependable transportation to older residents. Among the difficulties is frequent miscommunications among leaders of neighboring cities and counties.

Mary King, executive director of Metroport Meals on Wheels, knows of a woman who lives in Trophy Club and depends upon relatives to make doctors’ appointments at a Grapevine hospital, which is just a few miles away.

Even though the woman lives in Denton County, she doesn’t qualify for a county-subsidized van ride that others in her age group use. Why? The hospital is in Tarrant County, just outside the van’s reach.

“I can tell you horror stories about people who have had $150 cab bills for going to the doctor,” King said. “The most frustrating thing in the world is that all these transportation solutions we’re seeing now just come to a screeching halt at the county line.”

For many senior citizens, the issue is not whether they can get to a doctor’s appointment, but whether they can enjoy a vestige of the freedom they once had behind the wheel.

“We conducted a survey, and among people age 50-plus, there was more concern about having access to social interaction and recreation than there was about access to doctors,” said Candice Carter, associate state director for AARP, a group that advocates for senior citizens’ rights.

“We know a tremendous population boom of people age 50-plus is coming, and yet communities haven’t prepared for this.”

Nichols, the Grapevine resident who rode a van to a bone cancer treatment Wednesday, paused for a moment when asked if there is a place she wishes she could still go spontaneously — like she did when she was behind the wheel of her T-Bird, Camaro or Buick.

“The zoo,” she said finally. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Senior transportation

Here are some selected transportation options for older residents in the greater Tarrant County area:

• Fort Worth Transportation Authority (the T). Daily, regular bus service in Fort Worth and Richland Hills. Info: (817) 215-8600.

• Mobility Impaired Transportation Service (MITS). Operated by the T, MITS offers door-to-door service by appointment for seniors and people with disabilities in the T’s coverage area. Connection to Dallas Area Rapid Transit also is available. Info: (817) 215-8600.

• Trinity Railway Express. Regular commuter rail service from Fort Worth to Dallas. Daily except Sunday. Info: (817) 215-8600 or (214) 979-1111.

• Arlington Handitran. Door-to-door service for mobility-impaired Arlington and Pantego residents. Info: (817) 459-6550.

• Northeast Transportation Service (NETS). Operated jointly by the T and the American Red Cross, NETS offers door-to-door service by appointment in Northeast Tarrant County. Info: (817) 336-8714.