SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — The shopping bus for seniors is now running to Monticello five days a week. 

Transportation, said Office for the Aging (OFA) director Lise-Anne Deoul, “is vital to maintaining independence when you can shop for yourself and don’t have to rely on others to pick up your groceries.” 

It’s not so much a bus—lots of people crammed onto a big vehicle, heading off to do their shopping—as a much-needed ride to and from the shopping district in Monticello.

This is not the Move Sullivan bus either—it’s a different service, funded by the Office for the Aging’s transportation fund, for county residents aged 60 and up. 

Unlike the MOVE Sullivan bus, the shopping bus goes to further-flung regions in the county, such as the towns of Delaware and Highland.

The bus carries up to 14 people. The vehicle is fully accessible to wheelchairs and other mobility devices, and will arrive at your home.

Catch the bus

Sullivan County residents must register with the Office for the Aging. 

There is no charge for people aged 60 and up. A press release on the county’s website adds that the routes to Delaware and Highland also accept the general public. Call the OFA for details at 845/807-0241.

Go shopping

The trips are organized by location. Residents of the towns of Bethel and Neversink ride on Mondays, Fallsburg and Rockland on Tuesdays, Liberty and Mamakating on Wednesdays, Highland and Thompson on Thursdays and finally Delaware, the village of Liberty and Fallsburg on Fridays.

“As people register, we add them to the route,” said Deoul. The OFA keeps a waiting list in case there are cancellations.

Critical bus

A shopping bus sounds lightweight—something fun for seniors, a little outing. 

It’s far more than that.

People in the U.S. rely on transportation. That’s especially true in rural areas, where distances to shopping or medical care can be significant. 

Americans value “the independence to go where you want and when you want to go,” wrote the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center (NADTC). “It’s no wonder, then, that the impact of having to ‘give up the keys’ is a major, often negative, life event.”

So the shopping bus means that seniors without transportation—including seniors with limited mobility—can maintain “independence when you can shop for yourself… [plus] socialization, independence, aging in place and the ability to maintain self-worth,” Deoul said.

Those seniors won’t “have to rely on others to pick up their groceries.” 

And no, they can’t always just order online. 

“More older adults are becoming familiar with how to shop online and use their smartphones, but there are still many who do not,” she said. 

A call to the OFA will open up other options too, such as meals for the homebound or home-care services.

While there are no statistics covering the number of elders who have to rely on others for rides, Deoul said that 102 individuals used the shopping bus last year, when it ran less often.

Plus rural people, especially those with lower incomes, need the bus.

The USDA notes that poor rural households are three times more likely than non-poor rural households to be without a vehicle. In Sullivan, the median income is $33,871, according to the Census Bureau. About 12.7 percent of county seniors are poor.

Forty percent of all rural counties have no public transportation; an additional 28 percent have limited service. Funding costs are high per rider due to distance, and “funding disruptions at the national, state, and local levels also threaten sustainability of transit service and create public perceptions of service unreliability,” the agency said.

“Accessible transportation services are critical for enabling older adults to live independently,” NADTC wrote. “Social isolation due to lack of transportation can have an equally negative effect on health and mental health. Without accessible, reliable and affordable transportation, many more older adults could face the possibility of placement in a long-term care facility.”