In designing a transportation program that fully meets the needs of older-adult riders, two considerations are paramount – affordability and ease-of-use.
EZ Ride, a Northern New Jersey-based nonprofit, has been working to perfect such a model for decades.
The organization used funds it was awarded from the New Jersey Age-Friendly Grants program to enhance the affordability and user-friendliness of EZ Ryde4Life, an older-adult-focused program initially created in 2017 and now providing over 13,000 rides monthly.
The result was a new customer-facing ride-booking app and additional subsidized rides for income-eligible seniors in New Jersey.
EZ Ryde4Life fills the gap that lies between traditional senior bus and van programs, which typically have limited hours of service and distance limitations, and ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft, which many older residents find too costly and difficult to use.
While the actual rides are provided by Lyft and Uber, the nonprofit offers seniors steeply discounted or even free rides through its established network of sponsoring partnerships. In addition, for older adults unfamiliar or uncomfortable with reserving and paying for rides through a smart phone app, EZ Ryde4Life users can book a ride by telephone and receive a monthly statement detailing the charges.
In recent years, EZ Ride has expanded the senior transportation offerings of two of New Jersey’s most bustling counties – Bergen and Essex. Both counties contract with EZ Ride to offer rides for older residents who cannot be served on their own paratransit programs, either due to their need to travel to places at off-peak hours or to locations that are not on the regular routes of their senior bus and van programs.
Before the grant was awarded, the process for booking those rides worked like this: An older resident in Bergen or Essex would call their county agency to ask for a ride at a certain time or date. The county staff member taking the call would use a dispatching software program to determine if the rider’s trip could be completed on one of the county bus or van. If not, the county staff member would approve the ride to be provided through EZ Ride.
While the model works well, EZ Ride wanted to offer an additional ride-booking option for older adults who are more digitally savvy, or for those who sometimes experienced increased wait times to book rides over the phone during peak hours.
“The whole idea is to make the system more efficient and accommodate the preferences of different users,” said Avnish Gupta, chief operating officer and general counsel for EZ Ride, which is based in Wood-Ridge.
“For those who prefer to book their ride over the phone, that option will continue to be available,” Gupta said. “But for those who are comfortable with app technology, which more of the younger senior cohorts will be, this option allows them to request their rides without having to place a call to their county and potentially have to wait if they are calling at a peak time.”
Since its launch, the EZ Ryde4Life program’s growth has been exponential, from 10,000 annual rides in 2018 to about 140,000 rides in 2026, with most trips being for medical appointments, grocery shopping, recreation, or employment.
EZ Ride first began trying to address the needs of older adults and riders with special needs in 2008, when it launched a volunteer driver program called Community Cars. The program was in high demand, but it could not be scaled up due to limited cars and shortage of volunteer drivers.
That’s why the organization shifted to its current model of acting as a go-between with transportation network companies and senior riders or others with special needs.
Over the past seven years, EZ Ryde4Life has undergone a significant transformation. Initially serving individuals who paid out-of-pocket, the program now sees 95% of rides funded by sponsoring organizations – counties, municipalities, and non-profits. Four counties – Bergen, Essex, Passaic, and Monmouth – now contract with EZ Ride to provide supplemental transportation for their eligible residents.
For self-paying riders, EZ Ride has also implemented subsidies for those who are eligible for Medicaid, PAAD, and Senior Gold Card, offering rides for a nominal $5 fee. The state grant funds were also used to fund more rides for those eligible low-income riders.
The new app will likely ease strain on counties who contract with EZ Ride as their senior populations grow and their senior service programs receive more ride requests, Gupta said.
“They won’t need to hire a bigger bank of workers to take these calls,” Gupta said.
The app, which was tested in focus groups with older adults, will also improve communication between riders, drivers and dispatchers and help prevent mistakes, such as a rider’s name, address or intended destination being typed into the system incorrectly.
“The app will help improve connectivity between rider and the county and reduce the chance of human error,” Gupta said. “We are doing so many things with technology to improve the rider experience.”