This report presents a comprehensive roadmap for how to help make travel training meet the mobility needs of older persons. The report includes an executive summary, a detailed Handbook, and a supplemental research report. The Handbook, Part I, provides an extensive set of guidelines for transit agencies and human services providers on how to build and implement training programs to help older adults who are able to use fixed route public transit. The supplemental research report, Part II, reviews the research plan that produced this report as well as the case studies used to formulate the overall strategic program. The Handbook addresses the primary components of an effective travel training program. It defines the target market for travel training; identifies incentives and barriers to participation in training programs and subsequent use of conventional public transit; presents effective marketing and outreach strategies; describes opportunities and techniques for customized training; identifies and describes methods to monitor outcomes, refine techniques, and sustain ridership; and outlines how to address cost-effectiveness from the perspective of the provider as well as the recipient of training efforts. The Handbook focuses on practical implementation, drawing on experience from programs currently in use throughout the country. (Author/publisher)
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