March 11, 2008

Lack of transportation one of the top unmet needs in most local towns Marge Brennan, 76, hated to give up driving. But, after what she calls “a few incidents,” she did.

“I miss my car. You’re shut off from everything,” she said.

Legally blind due to macular degeneration, Francesca McCone, 85, “drove everyplace under the sun” until she turned 80. Reid Follette, 62, disabled, has a license but no car.

They’re regular riders every Wednesday as the Weymouth Elder Services bus makes its weekly Shaw’s Supermarket runs. Without it, Follette said, “I’d have to pay three times the money for bad food at the convenience store.”

Busy as the Weymouth fleet is, requests for rides outpace available seats. It’s not just an issue in Weymouth: Seniors across the South Shore often find it difficult to find transportation, short of driving themselves.

“A lot of people call last minute and if our schedule is full, I can’t help them, “ said Steve Veno, Weymouth Elder Services’ transportation coordinator. “People want to go to bank, hairdresser, pharmacy and I feel badly. It’s all by appointment.”

Many councils on aging provide limited rides for medical appointments and food shopping. But lack of transportation is one of the top unmet needs in local towns, said South Shore Elder Services.

Joan Powers, a volunteer driver for Meals on Wheels in Scituate, sees many seniors who live alone, have no nearby relatives, and can’t get out unless they tap a neighbor or friend for a ride.

“There are no buses and very limited town transportation — we need to provide better transportation for those who don’t drive,” Powers said.

A few suburban towns are doing just that. Duxbury is about to roll out a new $1 crosstown bus service, plus trips to Independence Mall and the commuter rail station in Kingston. Marshfield is considering a similar service.

Even if local residents are resourceful, as is Mary Squire, 74, of Weymouth, using most public transportation can be difficult. Squire manages to take an MBTA bus and the Red Line to Harvard Square to fill prescriptions. For food shopping, she uses the elder services fleet.

“The MBTA bus only comes by the house three times a day, and to go grocery shopping, I’d take two buses to get there and a cab to bring the food home,” Squire said. “The senior service has been a tremendous boon.”

Susan Barnes, director of Weymouth Elder Services, calls the bus “a lifeline. Many seniors are unable to drive, don’t have family or their family lives out of state.”

The 15-passenger bus, funded mostly through grants and donations, is one of six vehicles operated by the department, along with four mini vans and a nine-seat van. Five days a week, they make constant trips to medical appointments, grocery and discount stores, malls, bingo and special trips. For medical appointments alone, they log 150 trips a week.

“What the service means to people is their independence — or partial independence,” says Val DeChellis, 40, of Weymouth, the department’s full-time driver along with part-time driver Steve Foley and 10 to 12 volunteer drivers.