Aging in place · Transportation
Plan for driving retirement early.
Most people outlive their ability to drive safely by years. That makes a mobility plan as worth building as a financial one, and the time to build it is while you are still behind the wheel, not after.
Build the planThe core idea
Driving retirement is a plan, not an event.
There is a striking fact behind this whole page. According to AAA, older adults typically outlive their ability to drive safely by an average of seven to ten years. That means driving retirement is not a distant maybe. For most people it is a certainty with a runway, and a runway is exactly what lets you plan.
The mistake is treating it as a single dreaded day: the day the keys are handed over. Framed that way, it feels like loss, so people delay and avoid. The better frame is the one AAA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration both use. You plan for driving retirement the way you plan for financial retirement, gradually, in advance, so that when the day comes the alternatives are already familiar and in place.
The single most important principle, from NHTSA, is this: become comfortable with transportation alternatives before you are forced to rely on them. A ride service you have used a dozen times is easy. One you first try in a crisis is not. This page is about building that comfort early.
The three-part plan
Drive safely longer
Vision, medication review, and refresher courses keep you driving safely for as long as possible.
Build comfort with alternatives
Try the ride services, transit, and delivery options now, while a car is still your fallback.
Know your local resources
Your Area Agency on Aging knows nearly every option near you. Find it before you need it.
The options
There are more ways to get around than most people know.
A car feels like the only real option because it has been, for decades. In fact there are several, and which ones are available depends on where you live. Try the ones that fit while you are still driving, so they are familiar when you need them.
Public transit
Buses, trains, and subways, often with reduced senior fares. Many transit agencies offer travel-training that walks you through a route until it feels routine. Ride a line you might need while you still have your car as backup.
Rideshare
On-demand services like Uber and Lyft, plus senior-focused options that offer door-to-door help and let a family member book on your behalf or arrange rides by phone rather than an app. Practice one before you depend on it.
Volunteer driver programs
Nonprofits, faith-based groups, and networks like ITNAmerica run free or low-cost rides for older adults, often with door-through-door assistance. Your Area Agency on Aging knows which operate locally.
Paratransit
Curb-to-curb service for people who cannot use fixed-route transit, required in many areas alongside public transit. It usually needs advance booking, so learn how it works before you rely on it.
Delivery, not travel
The best trip is sometimes the one you do not take. Grocery and pharmacy delivery remove two of the most common reasons to drive. Set them up early so the accounts and routines are already in place.
Family, friends, neighbors
Often the most reliable option, and the one people hesitate to use. Most are glad to help. Arranging it as a standing plan, not a last-minute ask, makes it comfortable for everyone.
Transportation options and the driving-retirement framing are drawn from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's older-driver materials and AAA's Senior Transportation Mobility Planner. Availability varies by community; your Area Agency on Aging has the local specifics. Accessed August 2026.
The one phone call
The Eldercare Locator knows what is near you.
You do not have to research all of this yourself. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration points to one place that already has it gathered: your local Area Agency on Aging, which it describes as having information on virtually all transportation programs and services in an area.
You reach it through the Eldercare Locator, a national service from the U.S. Administration on Aging. One call connects you to the agency covering your county, which can tell you about reduced-fare transit, voucher programs, volunteer driver networks, paratransit, and any mobility manager whose job is to explain the local options.
Make this call while you are still driving. Write down what you learn and keep it with your household papers, so the plan is ready before the day it is needed.
How to reach it
Eldercare Locator
800-677-1116
Online
eldercare.acl.gov
Or dial
211, for the same local resources
Where this meets preparedness
A car is the assumed backup. Replace the assumption.
Most emergency plans quietly assume a car: it is how you evacuate, how you reach a pharmacy, how you get to a cooling or warming center during an outage. If driving is no longer an option, those assumptions need a stated replacement, built in advance.
Name your evacuation driver
If an evacuation is ordered, who drives you? Decide now, tell them, and have a backup. This is the single most important emergency question for a non-driver, and it should never be improvised.
Keep a deeper buffer
When you cannot simply drive to the store, a missed delivery matters more. Keep a larger cushion of medications, food, and water so a delayed or canceled delivery is an inconvenience, not a crisis.
Numbers on paper
Your ride services, your named drivers, and your Area Agency on Aging, written on paper by the phone. When an app fails or a phone dies, a written list still gets you a ride.
Common mistakes
What goes wrong.
Waiting until the keys are gone
The alternatives are hardest to learn in the moment you suddenly need them. Trying a ride service or a bus route while you still have your car makes the eventual transition ordinary instead of frightening.
Assuming no options exist
Many people conclude there is simply no way to get around without a car, without ever calling the one number that would tell them otherwise. The Area Agency on Aging almost always knows options the individual does not.
Leaving the emergency case unplanned
Everyday errands get solved while the evacuation question goes unasked. Name the person who would drive you out in an emergency, and confirm a backup, before you ever need either.
Hesitating to ask people who would gladly help
The reluctance to be a burden keeps many people from the most reliable option they have. Most family, friends, and neighbors are glad to help. A standing arrangement makes it easy on both sides.
Connected guides
Where to go next.
Aging in Place Hub
Back to the section. Home modifications, simplifying maintenance, fall prevention, and building your support network.
Transportation
The full transportation domain: vehicle readiness, backup transportation, and getting around when normal options fail.
Building Your Support Network
The people who drive you when you cannot drive yourself are part of a larger network. How to build it deliberately.
Fixed-Income Preparedness
Transportation voucher programs and reduced fares are part of a fixed-income plan. Where the budget and the ride meet.
Evacuating Without a Car
The emergency companion: how a non-driver plans to leave when an evacuation is ordered and driving is not an option.
Planning
Where the ride numbers, named drivers, and delivery accounts live in your household binder, ready for anyone who steps in.