Training the Trainers
On July 20th, WalkBoston led a walk audit in Worcester for a group of travel trainers from Worcester, New Bedford, Lawrence and Boston, along with staff from the EOHHS Human Service Transportation Center and the Easterseals National Center for Mobility Management. Travel trainers assist people with a variety of disabilities with navigating transit systems and identifying safe routes to employment, education, shopping and civic activities. WalkBoston first met with the travel trainers several months ago for a virtual Ped 101 training session that introduced them to the key elements of a safe and comfortable walking environment. The Worcester walk audit was specifically designed to help the travel trainers learn how to work with their transportation and human services agencies to improve the built environment in the communities they serve to make it safer and easier for their clients to walk to and from transit.
Among the points of lively discussion were:
- Inexpensive and “easy” fixes such as minor sidewalk repair and trimming of vegetation that blocks sidewalks;
- Operational changes such as finding safer locations for bus stops and improving snow shoveling of sidewalks, transit stops, and parking lots;
- Moderate cost capital projects like installation of new crosswalks with ADA compliant curb ramps and detectable warning panels;
- More complex projects – like road diets – to slow traffic and create safe crossings on busy roads.
The travel trainers lent their expertise in transit operations, discussed the safety (and lack thereof) of walking in parking lots, and shared challenges of finding walking routes that are safe for their wide variety of clients with different accessibility needs, such as routes that are safe for people with vision loss, using wheelchairs, and with cognitive disabilities. WalkBoston is looking forward to continuing our work with the travel training community, and bringing their deep compassion for the lived experience of their clients into our advocacy. Our work with the travel trainers is supported by an Age-Friendly Walking grant funded by Point32Health.