Access to Public Transit and Its Influence on Ridership for Older Adults in Two U.S. Cities

Abstract

Growth in the population of older adults (age 60 and above) in coming years will challenge urban planners and transportation managers to provide travel options that support autonomy. To investigate barriers that older adults experience in using public transit, this research explores associations between older adults who do and do not ride xed-route public transit and their neighborhood walking access to buses and trains. e research tests whether or not the distance between a trip origin or destination and a transit stop or station is a signi cant factor in predicting frequency of transit ridership. Data from a survey of older adults in California and New York is used to regress older adults' frequency of riding public transit against explanatory variables, including demographic and socioeconomic variables, access and mobility measures, and neighborhood characteristics. Findings suggest that self-reported walking distance to transit has a statistically signi cant in uence-in San José, California, but not in Buffalo, New York-in predicting transit ridership frequency. Drivers are more sensitive to walking distance than nondrivers. Models estimate that in San José, each additional ve minutes in perceived walking time to transit decreases transit ridership frequency by ve percent for nondrivers and by 25 percent for drivers. Older adults are likely to ride transit more o en if they are male, nonwhite, and low income.

Exploring public transport usage trends in an ageing population

“…For example ''I can reach and do everything without a car'' was one of the most commonly cited reasons for reducing driving amongst the elderly (Raitanen et al 2003). Furthermore, proximity to transit stops has been found to be a strong indicator of public transport use in several studies (Giuliano et al 2003;Su et al 2008;Hess 2009). Collectively this research supports the finding that public transport use was more frequent in Inner Melbourne where both population density and public transport service coverage are higher.…”

Employment status and commute distance of Canadians with disabilities

“…This is the case of Rosenkvist et al (2009), who report content analysis of interviews with nine individuals with impairments regarding their experiences using public transportation. The results are occasionally mixed, with the use of wheelchair or a cane not being significant factors in the use and the frequency of use of public transportation (Hess 2009). …”

Walking to the bus: perceived versus actual walking distance to bus stops for older adults

“…A particular focus of inquiry is objective versus subjective measure of proximity to transit stops-that is, how do measured walking distance and perceived walking distance from home to transit stops relate to transit ridership? To accomplish these research objectives, a sub-analysis is undertaken employing a dataset that has been used (Hess 2009) to measure accessibility to public transit for older adults. The results of this exploratory quantitative analysis suggest a relationship between physical proximity, perceived walking distance, and transit ridership behavior that are worthy of exploration in follow-up research.…”