Mobile Accessible Travel Training (MATT)

The Fairfax County Mobile Accessible Travel Training (MATT) bus is used to educate older adults through a hands-on learning experience. The staff coordinates "travel training" trips in which older adults will travel by bus and rail transit to and from a destination of their choice. The travelers-in-training will identify a bus stop near their residence, learn to read bus schedules and route maps, learn how to pay the fare and how to signal the driver to stop and other bus travel skills. The bus will deliver older adults to a Metrorail station where they will learn how to determine the fare and purchase Metrorail fare cards, load SmarTrip cards, read the system map, and board the trains to travel by rail.

Interested parties are grouped geographically, after which destinations are chosen and trips planned. The program attempts to travel train with a trainer to participant ratio of one to five.

The bus features a wheelchair lift in the front entrance, and there is room on board for two wheelchairs with four-point tie-downs. Additionally, there are up to six cochlear devices available for riders with hearing impairments.

The MATT bus is available for groups of older adults who wish to be trained and groups at residences, senior or community centers, or other groups in Fairfax County who want to learn more about transit and transportation programs.