MOUNT VERNON — If local officials can find the funding, Knox County seniors with limited mobility could once again experience the joy of riding a bike.

Cycling Without Age is a program that uses a power-assisted trishaw bicycle with a passenger seat on the front. It originated in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Mobility Manager Program Coordinator Joe Porter told the Knox County commissioners about the program last week.

“It’s basically a rickshaw, and it’s designed to be able to take seniors that can’t get out safely on the bike trail,” Porter said. “We want seniors and folks to be able to stay home, but we also want them to be able to get out.”

United Way of Knox County recently became affiliated with Cycling Without Age. The program has 3,500 chapters.

Many programs take the trishaw to the nursing home, and facility staff members drive them around the neighborhood.

However, many local nursing homes are on state highways.

“So what we’re looking at doing is using the bike trail and some of the slower traffic areas in our villages and stuff,” Porter explained.

“What we’d like to do is make it mobile. If we can get the funding, we want to to buy the equipment, and we also want to have a trailer where we can move it to Amity, for example.”

Although there is no bike trail in Amity, Porter said some quiet roads around the hamlet provide hills and scenic views. The bike’s electric assist makes hills easier to manage.

Porter and United Way officials will hold a team meeting with the Copenhagen organization soon.

“Of course, it all comes down to money,” Porter said.

Mobility management

Federal Transit Administration money distributed through the Ohio Department of Transportation funds the mobility management position. Knox Public Health oversees the position locally.

“Mobility management essentially is a program that connects people with transportation resources,” Porter explained.

“That works through a number of different avenues whether it’s something that has wheels on it, bike trails, water, or whatever.”

One area where Porter said there is a “pretty big hole” is affordable transportation outside the county.

“Inside the county, we’re in really good shape. Outside the county, if you have a specialist medical appointment or if you need to get to OSU or whatever, it’s pretty expensive no matter how you slice it,” he told the commissioners.

Porter works with a Transportation Advisory Committee. TAC is working on acquiring funding to help offset the cost of out-of-county transportation for medical appointments.

Other programs include Project Sidewalk, Get Healthy Knox County Interactive Transportation, and coordinating transportation plans from five organizations.