Alexandra MillonigAIT Austrian Institute of Technology, Mobility Department

Integrated Public Transport Services

Current Situation and Trends - Ageing of Society

Older people & mobility

Older people… who are they?

„Old people have limited regenerative abilities and are more prone to disease, syndromes, and sickness than younger adults.

[…]

The boundary between middle age and old age cannot be defined exactly because it does not have the same meaning in all societies. People can be considered old because of certain changes in their activities or social roles. Examples: people may be considered old when they become grandparents, or when they begin to do less or different work – retirement.“

[Wikipedia]

Older people… what is „old“?

Older people…

… have difficulties to learn something new?

© 2012 UCT Summer School, www.flickr.com

Older people… what is „old“?

Older people…

… are less active?

© 2012 Viola Ng, www.flickr.com

Older people… what is „old“?

Older people…

… are afraid of falling?

© 2012 UCT Jan Messersmith, www.flickr.com

Older people & mobility

Factors influencing older people‘s mobility

Transportfacilities

Financialsituation

Lifestyle

Skills

Health

Training…

…

Socialnetwork

Accessibility

Assistivetechnologies

Growing Older, stAying mobiLe: Transport needs for an aging society

http://www.goal-project.eu/

GOAL Profiles of Older People

the Care-Full

Hole in the Heart

Happily Connected

Fit as a Fiddle

ACTI

VITY

LEV

EL /

HEA

LTH

low

high

AGE50 100

An Oldie but a Goodie

37%

32%

13%13%

5%

Happily Connected

an Oldie but a Goodie

Hole in the Heart

The Care-Full

Fit as a Fiddle

4 A’s of public transport need for older people

[DfT 2010; pteg 2010]

Accessibility Affordability

AcceptabilityAvailability

Profile-related public transport issues

FF HH HC OG CF

- Health-related - X X

- X - X X

- - - - X

Safety X X - X -

Driver attitude - X - X -

Information - X - X -

Transition support X X X - -

The Action Plan

Transport needs and research gaps: Driving (action 1-3) Public transport

(action 4 and 5) Walking and cycling

(action 6-8) Travel information

(action 9 and 10)

Action 4: Methodology to assess the benefits of public transport accessibility measures

There is a lack of a holistic view of entire trips made by older people, where a single small factor may lead to an unacceptable outcome.

Impact Improved accessibility to public transport will

improve the quality of life of older people. Environmental benefits as bus patronage will be

likely to increase.

Action 5: Understand the transition from car to public transport

Transition from using your car for most trips to using public transport can be a negative life event.

An early and positive approach to such a change could lead to a more satisfactory outcome in terms of both personal lifestyle, reduced accident risk and more sustainable transport.

Research is needed to understand the circumstances of change which may trigger full or partial transitions from car to public transport.

Impact: More sustainable mode of travel by the older people. Longer mobility for older people.

Action 9: Make travel information suitable for the older people

Door-to-door consideration will be necessary because a single unacceptable element may make the whole journey unacceptable

Research will identify the information requirements for travellers with a range of physical and mental handicaps..

Impact: An understanding of the requirements of travel

information systems/services suitable for older people.

An assessment of the extent to which such systems/services could encourage more travel.

Action 10: Use social media to support travel by older people

The increasing use and access to a wide variety of social media may be able to support older people in a journey.

Research will identify the range of current and developing social media systems and services which may be used to support older travellers.

Impact: The development of social network activities to

remove the real and apparent risks associated with the travel of older people.

Increased usage of social media by older people by removing barriers e.g. fear and mistrust of technology.

Alexandra MillonigAIT Austrian Institute of TechnologyMobility DepartmentDynamic Transportation Systems

alexandra.millonig@ait.ac.at

http://www.goal-project.eu/