Weaving It Together: A Tapestry of Transportation Funding for Older Adults

This report provides insight into how transportation services for older adults and persons with disabilities are funded. With a growing population in need of transportation and limited funds for these services, providers need to creatively leverage existing and untapped funding sources to fill gaps in service. Coordination of these limited resources is also key and must be supported by providers and all levels of government.

This paper highlights the major sources of federal funding that providers can tap to fund transportation for these populations. Federal sources of funding include those from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Administration for Community Living, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 offers indirect incentives for investment in transportation.

As there is no comprehensive data set that tracks state and local expenditures on specialized transportation, the authors have included seven case studies of local providers from around the country to illustrate how they combine federal, state, and local funding to put quality service on the street. Providers interviewed River Cities Public Transit of South Dakota, Pelivan of Oklahoma, Peoplerides of Iowa, the Marin Access Mobility Management Center of California, the Delta Area Rural Transportation System of Mississippi, Medical Motor Service of New York, and Seniors’ Resource Center of Colorado.