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You’re a what?
Travel trainer

Ryan Farrell | January 2025

Johnathan Houston

What’s your job?

I’m a travel trainer. I help older adults and people with disabilities learn how to independently use public transit in the greater Boston area. I teach them how to plan their trips, and I raise their awareness about helpful resources and people to look for while traveling. I also introduce them to apps or official websites with features that I think they’d find helpful. 

Describe a typical day.

I start my day by checking voice messages and email for any changes—such as a trainee needing to reschedule. If there’s time, I may complete some paperwork in the office. I’ll check my calendar to ensure that my advance-trip planning is accurate and that extra details have been accounted for as well. Once that’s set, I'll journey out to my training.

By and large, I use the same public transit that I want my trainees to understand. This allows me to have more on-the-ground experience, especially with whatever the recent conditions are. Things can change on public transit all the time, whether due to accidents or unexpected maintenance or even weather. I’ll then meet with the trainee and work on one of their goals with them.

After I finish with a trainee, I may return to the office to finish paperwork, reach out to other prospective trainees for a meeting, or travel to work with another trainee.

How many people do you work with when conducting training?

I may have up to eight people that I work with, one on one, at any given time. Depending on scheduling and the length of each session, I’ll meet with at least one person a day. Every session focuses on the trainee’s goal, which typically is about understanding how to run through a particular route on the transit system.

How do you work on trainee goals in their sessions?

It usually involves helping the person to understand different components of our system: the point-to-point planning aspect of a trip and who they can ask for assistance. For example, if they have particular mobility concerns, it’s making sure they know that they can ask for accommodations, such as having the front of the bus lowered, a ramp deployed, or a bridge plate placed down for train entry and exit.

Is there a timeline that’s typical for participants to complete training?

It varies. I’ve had trainees who complete training fairly quickly, with one initial meeting followed by one or two actual sessions. It also depends on other factors, like whether they have prior experience with the transit system.

But it’s an ongoing process. I work with a trainee until they feel fully confident in their ability to plan their own trips and to travel independently. I also work with repeat trainees who might need some clarification or a refresher of prior training.

Tell me about your career path.

I’ve had a very enjoyable path. I studied sociology and political science in college. After getting my bachelor’s degree, I first worked as a research assistant for a nonprofit organization and then as an analyst at an educational compliance company. It was in the analyst position that I learned more about disabilities and related compliance concerns.

Next, I worked as a travel coordinator with my current employer. I was interested in the travel trainer position, but my qualifications didn’t line up as well for that as they did for the coordinator role. After gaining experience as a travel coordinator, I eventually transitioned into my current role as a travel trainer. 

Are there certain qualities or abilities that make a travel trainer successful?

You need navigational skills and an understanding of the fundamentals of how to get around a particular area; otherwise, you can’t impart that information to others. And you have to have patience with and empathy for people, because we work with people all day, and be understanding of their challenges and limitations.

A successful travel trainer should also be willing to learn more and refine their knowledge on a regular basis. I have a group chat with other trainers, and we share information on new shortcuts, newly installed signage, and other travel-related tips.

What advice do you have for someone interested in this occupation?

If they aren’t already, they should start volunteering or formally working with older adults or people with disabilities.

I also recommend that people get to know their areas more—on public transit where possible, of course, but even just walking around and understanding the different roads we take and looking at the sidewalks and pathways that we walk. Thinking about how those might affect the way certain people are able to maneuver around an area can be very important.

What’s the most challenging part of your job?

Nailing down the schedules and keeping everything organized. I have to find a time that works for both the client and me to meet. I also have to come up with a plan for how both of us will get there and account for possible delays. And then from there, I have to figure out how I’ll get to my next appointment.

What do you like best?

Meeting people. I do sometimes get nervous in advance of meeting a new person, but it’s always worth it. Each new interaction helps round out my perspective and helps me learn ways to help future trainees.

It’s a great feeling when a trainee tells me that their mom or someone else in their life asks them for advice on using transit because they’ve gotten so much better at getting around the city. I've seen a lot of excitement from people too, just this exhale of satisfaction once we’ve finished training. They realize that they can get to so many other places, and it brings richness to their life to feel more capable of moving around their town, county, or city. That outcome is very rewarding.