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Turku region traffic
Pirkko Rautiainen, Marjatta Haavisto ja Raita Salminen

Föli Friends service launching – peer support to help seniors travel by bus

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New services

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31.5.2021

Launching in June 2021, Föli Friends is a new service created as a collaborative effort between Turku Region Public Transport Föli and Turun Seudun Vanhustuki ry. Föli Friends are volunteer seniors who provide their peers with guidance and help on the use of Föli transport services.

The service includes Föli Friends meetings, which all older persons are welcome to attend to learn more about Föli services and the use of public transport. After the meeting, you can pair up with a Föli Friend to explore bus routes and try out buses at your own expense. Alternatively, you can also agree to take a trip with a Föli Friend on some other date. The Föli Friends service will run from June to the end of August on its first year of operation.

There will be a total of three Föli Friends meetings held over the summer: on Thu 3 June at 2 pm, Thu 29 July at 2 pm and Fri 20 August at 2 pm at Turun seudun Vanhustuki ry’s facilities (Läntinen Pitkäkatu 33, Turku). Due to gathering restrictions, participating in the meetings requires advance registration by phone (tel. +358 (0)44 536 7741 / Vanhustuki). The duration of the meetings is approximately one hour. The June Föli Friends meeting may be held remotely depending on gathering restrictions. Even if this is the case, you can still come to Vanhustuki’s facilities to participate in the remote meeting by registering in advance.

 

The Föli Friends service was conceived as part of the GreenSAM – Green Silver Age Mobility project. The project involved Valonia and Föli piloting a mentoring model for seniors, in which a more experienced public transport user provided guidance to a less experienced user. User experiences were good and were used to adapt the pilot into the Föli Friends service. The potential continuation and further development of the Föli Friends service will be decided upon based on experiences collected during its first summer of operation.