Sometime In the next decade, 1 out of every 5 people in New Jersey will be over the age of 65.
The Township of Toms River has already passed that milestone, and if this Ocean County community’s experience is a harbinger of what’s to come, increasing transportation options should be paramount in the Garden State’s efforts to plan for population aging.
“Transportation is such a critical part of our seniors’ quality of life,” said Maryann DiMaria, program aide for the Toms River Senior Center. “Some of the stories we heard were heartbreaking. Without access to transportation, a lot of our seniors can’t get what they need in today’s world.”
The Toms River Age-Friendly Assessment and Planning Initiative was coordinated and led by Senior Center Director Laura Picurro, with support from DiMaria, and Tova Herskovitz, a social worker and consultant who assisted with implementing the grant.
Feedback was gained through a community needs assessment that elicited more than 320 respondents as well as from a health fair attended by more than 400 attendees and a Town Hall event attended by more than 80.
More than 40 organizational partners also provided input and Township leaders convened a project leadership group called “The Aging Ambassadors Team,” which includes older adults, caregivers, senior center staff, elected officials, local business owners, and other partner organizations.
As the Ocean County seat, Toms River is a regional hub for county services, health care, and commerce as well as being home to six age-restricted communities.
Toms Rivers’ active adult neighborhoods offer a range of housing styles, amenities, and support networks, but as township leaders wrote in their initial grant application, they “also present unique planning needs related to transportation, mobility, healthcare access, and opportunities for civic and social participation.”
According to U.S. Census American Community Survey estimates in 2025, about 21 percent of the township’s 100,000 residents are over age 65.
With such a large population of older adults, Toms River has a well-rounded and well-attended senior center with a wide range of recreational, social and wellness programs as well as three senior vans that transport older residents to and from the center and to medical visits, grocery stores and community activities.
But the demand far exceeds the need, even with supplemental transportation offered through Ocean County.
“We’re limited in how many people we can serve with transportation each day,” DiMaria said.
The township intends to draft an age-friendly action plan to address challenges identified in the assessment and to join the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities.
In addition, one of the key partners in Toms River’s age-friendly planning was the Ocean County Office of Senior Services, which recently helped lead a countywide age-friendly project that resulted in the Ocean County Board of Commissioners adopting a Multi-Sector Plan on Aging (MPA), the first governmental body in New Jersey to adopt such a visionary document.
The community’s grant application opened with this pledge: “As the number of older adults in Toms River continues to grow, the Township is committed to becoming a more inclusive, accessible, and livable community for residents of all ages.”