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Travel Training

Travel Training

If people don’t know how to travel, they can’t access transportation. Most people learn to travel by going places with their family or on school trips. Sometimes we assume people know how to travel, but it’s not always easy. Information and signs can be confusing. Directions can be hard without clear landmarks or at different times of day. It’s easy to get distracted and miss a bus stop or get lost.

Some people benefit from training to help them travel independently. Travel training covers all types of transportation and teaches every part of a journey. A method for training anyone to travel was first developed in NYC in the 1960s and has become a model for other cities.

Activism Milestones

  • 1959: AHRC NYC opens an Occupational Day Center for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to learn job skills.
  • 1960: A travel training program is piloted at the AHRC Occupational Day Center in Manhattan with funding from the NIH.
  • 1970: Travel training is formalized at the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE).
  • 1973: The NYPD works with NYC DOE Travel Training to create an ID card to help non-verbal disabled students communicate when they need help.
  • 1979: NYC DOE Travel Training works with the NYC DOT to create a portable road intersection for teaching street crossing skills.
  • 1982: EPVA and NYC DOE Travel Training helped familiarize disabled people with the bus system.
  • 1994: The MTA partnered with outside groups to offer travel training for paratransit customers until 2020.

Travel Planning

When traveling somewhere new, you need to know how to plan your journey. Some trips involve many steps or require different types of transportation. With good planning, which means you know all the steps in advance, traveling can be less stressful. Street crossing skills are essential for any trip in the city.

Top: 1975. My Travel Book, District 75 Travel Training program. From the Peggy Groce Collection. Bottom: 1979. Booklet from the Peggy Groce collection.

Navigating and understanding signage

Subways, buses, and streets each have their own system of information, so people can figure out which way to go. Streets have names or numbers. Buses and subways have different routes to take you to various places. To carry out a travel plan, you have to know what different signs mean.

Photos c. 1960s. AHRC NYC Newsletter.

Communicating and Asking for Help

It’s easy to get lost or turned around in some places, so it’s good to know who to ask if you need help. Other passengers might be able to help, but sometimes they don’t know the right information. Transportation workers usually wear uniforms or work in specific locations so they are easier to find.

Top: c. 1980s. Photo from the EPVA Collection. Bottom: c. 1980s. Photo from the Peggy Groce collection.

Safety and situational awareness

Traveling anywhere requires awareness of your surroundings. Sometimes people don’t notice dangerous conditions, like potholes or other hazards. Moving vehicles don’t always follow the traffic rules. Other people can sometimes cause harm. Travel training teaches people how to stay safe while traveling.

Top: c. 1980. Photo from the EPVA Collection. Bottom: c. 1990s. Photo from the Peggy Groce collection.