Driver service for Bergen seniors desperate for volunteers

ITNNorthJersey has been providing cheap rides to seniors and the visually impaired in Bergen County since June. Watch video

WYCKOFF -- ITNNorthJersey has been providing cheap rides to seniors and the visually impaired in Bergen County since June.

Since then, the non-profit has accumulated 125 members and John Boswick, executive director, said ITN is desperate for more drivers.

ITNNorthJersey, the local affiliate of ITNAmerica, has had little trouble attracting members. It's the fastest growing of the national organization's 30 affiliates.

Anyone 60 or older, or who has a visual impairment can sign up for rides. Volunteer drivers will take members anywhere in Bergen County.

Membership costs $90 a year. Rides are $2.50 per pickup, plus $1.50 per mile. That's half the cost of a taxi, Boswick said.

There are more than 40 people on the waiting list to become members, Boswick said. The problem is ITN doesn't have enough drivers. There are about 25 who are active, providing about 125 rides per week.

Every driver must have at least three years of experience behind the wheel, own a car and undergo a criminal and background check.

"The only thing we ask of our drivers is they give us one ride a month," Boswick said. "Most of them do much more."

Driving for ITN has been rewarding for Susan Haviland, 54. The Ridgewood resident said the seniors she picks up are inspiring.

"The people that you pick up are full of life and they have a lot to offer," she said.

Haviland signs up for three to five pickups a week, depending on her schedule. The seniors she meets range from a woman in her 90s who teachers electrical engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University, a woman who wasn't able to drive while recovering from knee replacement surgery and Marie, an Allendale woman who, at 104, still makes regular social calls to the senior center in her former hometown of Dumont.

Haviland's daughter and husband have picked up the occasional ride as well, but she said the need is growing. Members request more than 100 rides some weeks.

"It's great for kids that are home from college for spring break or can't find a summer job, as well as someone that has free time on their hands," she said.

With enough drivers, Boswick hopes the service can expand to other northern New Jersey counties.

Volunteers can sign up on the ITNNorthJersey website.