Overview
Travel Training or travel instruction offers 1-on-1 and group training to teach seniors and people with disabilities to travel safely and independently on fixed-route public transit (fixed-route service includes trains and buses that operate on regular routes).
Travel Trainers work with you to determine how your disability affects your ability to travel. They develop methods to teach travel skills tailored to your needs.
Who is eligible?
Travel Trainers believe that everyone who is capable should have the opportunity to learn to travel independently, using public transportation to meet their travel needs. All persons with disabilities should be allowed the dignity afforded by independent travel.
What does Travel Training include?
One-on-one training
Your Travel Trainer will help you find solutions that best fit your situation, abilities and needs. Training involves a series of steps, initially with 1-on-1 instruction before eventually leading to independent travel. Your Travel Trainer can focus on destination training, which teaches you to travel to a specific destination and back, or general training, which provides you with greater overall riding instruction to any destination.
Each training program is individually tailored to your needs and will help you:
- Plan your trip
- Ride specific routes
- Read and understand route maps and schedules
- Get to and from your bus stop or rapid station
- Recognize bus numbers, bus stops, rapid stations and landmarks
- Pay fares and purchase tickets/passes
- Use the lift or ramp to board with a mobility device
- Position your mobility device in the bus /train
- Use the phone and/or Internet to plan your trip
- Cross the street safely
You will learn to travel independently and confidently while riding RTA.
Group training
Group Training is appropriate for group homes, transitional housing, senior citizen facilities, and schools. During group training, students spend 4-6 weeks in the classroom learning about:
- The Americans with Disabilities Act
- Benefits of using public transportation
- Transportation options
- Destination Information
- Bus features
- Bus fare and ticket purchasing
- Reading maps and schedules
- Safety tips and behavior
- Trip planning
Each class culminates with a trip on public transportation to utilize the skills learned. If they are eligible, students can also obtain a senior/disabled card during this training.
Benefits of travel training
- Gain more choices and flexibility for travel
- Have greater self-esteem and independence
- Obtain better access to employment, job training, education and recreation.
Begin by completing the referral form. Your referral will be sent to the Travel Training Department. A Trainer will then contact you to schedule an appointment.
For questions, call the RTAnswerline at 216-621-9500