Public transport policy measures for improving elderly mobility

Abstract

Population aging is happening in most of the world's metropolitan cities, and the proportion of elderly adults is predicted to increase significantly in the coming decades. This rapid growth of elderly populations may lead to serious transport issues when their mobility is compromised by the unavailability of public transport services. Public transport concession fare schemes are commonly implemented in many cities to encourage the elderly's participation in social activities. However, these policies emphasize the role of money (i.e., travel fares) in determining willingness to travel. Other possible factors, such as walking distance to and from stops and stations, wait times for public transport services, and seat availability, have not been considered by transport operators and policy makers. In this study, we interviewed 613 elderly Hong Kong residents aged 60 or above regarding their travel decisions using designated modes of public transport to attend social activities in four hypothetical games. A total of 2452 observations were collected for model development. Binary logistic regression models were calibrated to determine which factors significantly influenced the elderly's travel decisions. Based on the model results, this paper suggests policy measures to strengthen public transport planning in Hong Kong with the goal of improving elderly mobility. The findings provide policy insights that can also be applied to other metropolitan cities with similar traffic conditions.