Metro News Release
For immediate release: June 17, 2009
Metro awarded grant to expand travel training for people with disabilities
Regional initiative to teach people with disabilities how to use public transportation
Metro has been awarded almost $1 million in federal funds to expand its travel training program for people with disabilities in partnership with disability advocacy groups and social service agencies throughout the Washington region.
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board voted today (June 17) to approve Metro’s “Comprehensive Individualized Level of Travel Training” project for federal funding under the Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) and New Freedom Programs of the Federal Transit Administration.
The two-year pilot will provide comprehensive, individualized travel training for at least 600 people with significant disabilities who require more than the one-day, individual Metro system orientations that Metro currently provides. Metro has been providing free, one-day, individual or group Metro system orientations for more than five years as part of its Metro is Accessible program. As a result, hundreds of people with disabilities have learned how to travel safely and independently on Metro’s fully accessible Metrobus and Metrorail system.
For the new pilot project, Metro will work in partnership with the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia Centers for Independent Living (CILs). A major portion of the project will focus on helping low income people with significant disabilities learn how to travel to and from job sites and employment-related activities. Eligible participants who complete travel training will receive a free reduced fare SmarTrip® card preloaded with $50 in fare to pay for rides on public transportation.
“The project takes a new and unprecedented approach toward coordinating travel training efforts across the region,” said Christian T. Kent, Metro’s Assistant General Manager of Access Services. “People with disabilities will be armed with the knowledge and skills to independently use public transportation and have greater access to jobs and other amenities.”
Metro’s three project partners are the District of Columbia Center for Independent Living (DCCIL), Independence Now of Maryland and ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia (ECNV). Each of the three CILs will hire two full-time travel trainers (a total of six for the region) to provide comprehensive, individualized travel training for people with significant disabilities who require ongoing training.
Metro and its project partners will conduct extensive outreach to people with disabilities to make them aware of the travel training options available throughout the region and refer them to the appropriate organization for training. For comprehensive, long-term individualized travel training, referrals will be made to the CILs. For one-day individual and group Metro system orientations, referrals will be made to Metro.
In addition, Metro will expand its “Train the Travel Trainers” workshops to instruct project partners how to provide travel training to teach people with significant disabilities how to travel safely and independently on public transportation. Project partners include the staff of the CILs and The Arcs of the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County.
“By extending the travel training resources of Metro and its project partners to other disability-related organizations in the region, we can ensure the continued availability of these services well beyond the two-year project period,” Kent said.
An advisory committee will be established to ensure ongoing consumer input and involvement. The committee will include representatives from the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities, The Arc of the District of Columbia, The Arc of Northern Virginia, The Arc of Montgomery County, The Arc of Prince George’s County, Arlington County Disability Advisory Commission, DCCIL, District of Columbia Commission on Persons with Disabilities, District of Columbia Rehabilitation Services Administration, ECNV, Fairfax Area Disability Services Board, Inclusion Research Institute, Independence Now, Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services, Metro, Montgomery County Commission on People with Disabilities, Prince George’s County Commission on Persons with Disabilities and the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services.
For more information about the project, contact Rikki Epstein, ADA Operations Manager in Metro’s Office of ADA Programs, at 202-962-1125 or repstein@wmata.com.
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Media contact for this news release: Angela Gates or Lisa Farbstein at 202-962-1051.
News release issued at 2:38 pm, June 17, 2009.