Senior Transportation Set for Council Committee Agenda

Improved transportation for seniors and the county executive’s $13.9 million request to replace 60 Champion buses will be on the agenda for a Montgomery County Council committee Monday.

The council’s Health and Human Services Committee and Transportation, Energy, Infrastructure and Environment Committee will hear recommendations on ways to improve mobility for Montgomery County seniors.

“The work session will stress that even in a county that is considered to have very good public transportation options, those services, in many cases, are not adequate for some seniors,” reads a county news release.

Recommendations include creating a county “mobility manager” administrative position to coordinate transportation services offered through the private sector, Metro and various county agencies, and creating more shuttle service between neighborhoods and shopping centers.

The recommendations also include creating a strategic communications and marketing plan to advertise transportation options available to seniors.

Montgomery County currently has about 120,000 residents who are 65 or older, and that number is expected to jump to 156,400 by 2020. Many seniors who “age in place” cite a lack of transportation as “the most important barrier in their lives,” according to a committee staff packet.

The work session is set for 9:30 a.m. in the County Council Office Building’s seventh floor hearing room, and will be televised on County Cable Montgomery.

At 10:15 a.m., the T&E committee is expected to take up County Executive Isiah Leggett’s request for a $13.9 million appropriation to replace all 60 Champion buses, part of Ride On’s fleet. The buses were taken out of service last July after the seventh bus fire since 2009, according to a county news release.  

The session also will be held in the seventh floor hearing room and televised on County Cable Montgomery.

Also on the T&E Committee’s agenda is a proposal to build a pedestrian tunnel beneath Georgia Avenue at the Forest Glen Metro station to create more pedestrian connectivity in the area.