7 Ways to find alternative transportation options for your aged parents

Driving is so important to older people. It helps them remain socially attached. It helps them to experience self-reliance. It minimizes risk of anxiety and also seclusion therefore far more.

There are a lot of excellent factors that older adults wish to drive for as long as possible. There will likely come a time in your moms and dads’ life that they’re no more able to drive.

When this occurs, one of the best means to help is to be clear on what types of transportation options are readily available to your parents to make sure that they can stay independent as well as remain to live their ideal life.

In this post you’ll know the seven ways to find alternative transportation options for your aging parent.

Let’s Start.

1. Public Transportation

The major cities in all countries offer public transportation, like in the form of subways, buses, cable cars, trains. If your parent plans to use traditional public transportation, they’ll have to be able to understand the route where it picks up and drops off and so on. And where they are more chances to explore the transportation journey.

2. Specialized Public Transportation

The second alternative transportation option is specialized public transportation or para transit, which is actually modified public transportation.

There are many public transportation program and they have all its names. For example : Lets call Marta. The Program called Marta Mobility is totally for older adults and people with disabilities to serve seniors transportation needs.

Marta Mobility is a modified public transportation. It’s a little tiny bit more expensive than the regular public transportation, still affordable, but they go door to door, meaning that they’ll pick your parent up at their house and drop them off at their destination like a doctor’s appointment or the grocery store.

With this option, your parent will have to think about how long the ride will take because. What happens is Marta Mobility has manifest of other riders and they pick them up at them location and drop them off at the destination.

Look at your local public transportation website to learn what programs are available for older adults and people with disabilities near your parent.

3) Volunteer Transportation

Volunteer transportation services are essentially one-on-one rides in a volunteer’s car that can be reserved on demand.

How do you go about finding volunteer rides?

This is where it can be so helpful to call your local area agency on aging and see if they know any volunteer transportation resources in your parent’s community. You simply put in your parent’s zip code and call the resources.

4) Transportation offers from Senior s Community

If your parent lives in a senior independent or an assisted living community, sometimes those communities offer transportation. Many independent and assisted living senior communities offer transportation.

If your parent lives in one, simply call them up and ask if they offer transportation. Sometimes they might just offer them Tuesday and Thursday, sometimes it’s every day, but you want to get a sense so ask.

5) Transportation offered by your parent’s church or senior rec center

Many churches and senior recreational groups or centers offer transportation. You might think about calling your parent’s church or local rec center to see if they offer transportation.

6) Services Like Uber or Lyft

You might want to think of having your parents use services like Uber or Lyft. Now there’s also a really cool program for older adults called GoGoGrandparent which is a service that you can add onto your Uber or Lyft ride. GoGoGrandparent will keep you notified of your parent’s whereabouts with text messages.

7)Local Area Agency

Your local area home care agency on aging is the best go to resource for all things aging and older adults.

You simply put in your parent’s zip code and call the agencies listed. Once you get there, ask for a mobility counselor or other alternative transportation options in your parent’s community. It’s really very simple.

Conclusion

There are many other alternative transportation options that helps your parents maintain independence with transportation even when they are no longer driving.

From the above which transportation options do you use for your aging parents? Don’t forget to share this article with your friends who are caring for their aging parent because nobody should have to do this caregiving-thing alone.