In 2024, LIFTT will promote disability inclusion by advocating for a more inclusive public transport system. There are two types of transport systems: exclusive and inclusive. On one hand, exclusive transport systems are one of the major barriers that prevent disabled people from living independently. On the other hand, inclusive transport systems and scheduled trips are ADA-accessible and allow disabled people to move within their urban environment and live independently and freely. Disabled people who have transport are engaged in their communities, attend school, work, and live life to the fullest.
Inclusive transportation includes the aging and disabled in society and contributes to its diversity. LIFTT is happy to report that all levels of our government prioritize accessibility and inclusiveness by removing barriers to walking, wheeling, cycling, planning, and public transport, benefiting disabled individuals, complying with the ADA, guaranteeing equal access and equal opportunity, and preventing injustice. Thanks to the government’s efforts, barriers are being removed, increasing accessibility and inclusiveness in LIFTT’s service area. There is a demonstrated willingness to comply with the ADA, promote political, ethical, and mobility justice, and recognize the rights of disabled individuals.
- On January 31, 2024, the City of Billings MET Transit and LIFTT will hold an event entitled Bus Adventure in which citizens with different disabilities and the MET team will demonstrate how to remove barriers and overcome challenges experienced by the disabled who use public transportation. Together, the MET and LIFTT are promoting disability inclusion through public transportation. By participating in this event, LIFTT will provide a voice to the everyday lived experiences of disabled individuals and increase awareness of the factors that make transport and mobility accessible.
- LIFTT also continues working with the City of Billings Planning and Community Services Department as well as the Billings-Yellowstone County Metropolitan Planning Organization and community stakeholders to provide a disability perspective as city and county transportation plans such as “Safe Routes to Schools, “Complete Streets” and the “Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan” are renewed and updated.
- LIFTT is also partnering with the Montana Department of Transportation to create a special between-cities transportation service for the aging and disabled residing in Southeastern Montana. It will be a fixed route service from Sidney to Billings, with Glendive and Miles City stops. We plan to have an accessible van and be able to transport even passengers in a wheelchair.
If you are a person with disabilities in our service area facing a transportation inclusion issue, LIFTT stands ready to assist in helping you find and advocate for a solution; call us in Billings (406) 259-5181 or Glendive (406) 948-8500, or send us a message through our website at liftt.org/contact.
A “Bus Adventure” with Billings MET Transit in late January is just one of the transportation inclusion projects LIFTT will be working on in 2024. (Photo courtesy of Billings MET Transit)
About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and southcentral Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Stillwater, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app on Apple or Google Play.
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