New program gives out-of-county rides to seniors, people with disabilities

A new transportation program means Johnson County’s seniors and people living with disabilities can request bus rides far into neighboring counties for the first time.

The “My Freedom” program comes from a partnership between the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority, or CIRTA, and CICOA, formerly known as the Central Indiana Council on Aging. With the program, residents of any Central Indiana county, which includes Marion County and the eight surrounding ‘donut’ counties, can request a ride across county lines provided they are either at least 60 years old or have a documented disability, said Jennifer Gebhard, CIRTA’s executive director.

While there was a similar program in the past, this is the widest geographic range it’s ever had, she said.

“Every year we have people in Central Indiana who are seniors or have disabilities and call our office for ways to cross county lines to get to doctor’s appointments, or the sweet little grandma that needs to get to church and doesn’t have a way to get there,” Gebhard said. “They can pay one provider instead of two or three providers to get to their destination and not pay a high Uber or Lyft fee if they don’t have alternative transportation.”

With the My Freedom program, riders can either travel within the county they’re picked up in or go one county over as long as it’s within Central Indiana. That means people picked up within the county can travel anywhere within Johnson County or reach destinations in Marion, Morgan or Shelby counties, said Karren Brooks, director of Way2go Transportation at CICOA.

The program began service last month, and is already helping seniors and people with disabilities. People involved with My Freedom estimate it will serve 300 people a month to start and then grow from there.

Trips cost $2 per mile and have a $5 pickup fee, with additional fees for pickups that either go across county lines or originate outside Marion County. The program is funded by CICOA and CIRTA and further subsidized with money from the Federal Transit Administration. The funding covers 75% of the cost of each trip, meaning a trip that would normally cost $20 would cost a rider just $5, Brooks said.

“It’s going to make a huge impact … At the age of eight, I became a caregiver for my father, who was a brittle diabetic. I watched him deteriorate from the age of eight to the age of 16. Transportation would’ve made a world of difference for him to get from the west side of Marion County to old St. Francis (Hospital) in the middle of Beech Grove,” she said. “We take pride in what we’re doing to make a difference in someone’s life, no matter how big or small.”

The service operates around the clock, seven days a week. For Johnson County residents, this will make a tremendous difference, said Becky Allen, director of Gateway Services, which operates the Access Johnson County transportation service.

Access used to run buses on the weekend, but that discontinued a decade ago with budget cuts. Now, it runs Monday through Friday from 6:15 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The service is also limited to Johnson County except for small strips of land just outside the county lines, such as Indiana Premium Outlets on the Bartholomew County side of Edinburgh and the area of Marion County between County Line Road and Stop 11 Road, Allen said.

“I think it’ll help them schedule appointments that are not necessarily always in this county,” she said. “They can get to their job, the grocery store. We have some seniors and people with disabilities who work and now can get to where they’re going on the weekends. People can go to church without having to depend on family members or church members to do that and not all of them have wheelchair-accessible vehicles. This gives them some freedom and flexibility.”

To get service, people can call CICOA at 317-254-5465 or visit the transportation page on cicoa.org. They’ll need to fill out an application, and if they have a disability, fill out a medical verification form and have their physician sign it. This can also be found on the transportation page by visiting the “My Freedom” link.

Once accepted to the program, riders will receive a farecard, along with a welcome packet. They can then load funds onto the card by calling Way2go Transportation at 317-803-6153 and pressing option 3, according to CICOA’s website.

Once they’ve loaded their farecards, they can call zTrip at 317-487-7777 to request a ride. People who use wheelchairs should call at least 48 hours ahead of when they want a ride to ensure they are picked up by a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, Brooks said.

To learn more about the “My Freedom” transportation program, visit: https://bit.ly/45gCyTN