Master Plan for Aging flags transportation gaps for seniors and people with disabilities

State aging officials and DACLAC members told the EAC that transportation is a central barrier to aging in place and community living, and urged coordinated action to close service gaps.

Jackie Tommpkins, project director for the Master Plan for Aging at the California Department of Aging, summarized the plan’s five goals — housing, health re-imagined, inclusion/equity, caregiving, and affording aging — and said the plan must accommodate a sharply growing older-adult population. “I like to think of California’s master plan for aging champions,” she said, framing the plan as a statewide roadmap for both current and future older adults.

Tompkins and staff presented findings from the Master Plan’s Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) gap analysis focused on non‑medical supports. Key transportation findings included: wide county-to-county variation in services; paratransit availability and reliability problems; poor public and provider awareness of eligibility and referral pathways; limited funding earmarked specifically to serve older adults and people with disabilities; and acute gaps in rural areas. The study also flagged driver training, accessible vehicle and infrastructure shortages, and fragmentation of service coordination.

The Disability & Aging Community Living Advisory Committee (DACLAC) transportation subcommittee — co-chaired by Michelle Rousey and Warren Kushman — recommended state actions including a complete, costed needs assessment (they noted SB1121 reporting remains incomplete), standardized ADA transition processes, and technical assistance so small agencies can adopt GTFS real-time, open payments, and affordable automatic passenger-counting/AVL tools. The subcommittee said without a transparent cost estimate for accessible transportation solutions, lawmakers and agencies cannot plan or fund durable improvements.

Committee members emphasized that many proposed fixes — procurement of standardized hardware and software, signal priority, and automated counting and dispatch tools — would be more feasible if the state used its purchasing power and created shared, off-the-shelf solutions for small agencies.

Why it matters: Transportation access is a prerequisite for health care, social connection and economic participation for older adults and people with disabilities. The Master Plan’s gap analysis gives state agencies a baseline to prioritize investments, but DACLAC members said progress will stall without a rigorous cost assessment and clearer funding commitments.

What’s next: The Master Plan team said it will share HCBS gap analysis tools (county-level digital landscape) with stakeholders and recommended deeper subcommittee work on data, procurement standards, and a state-level roadmap to close the transportation access gaps.