Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86). / ix, various pagination, bound ill. 29 cm

Elderly planning has been a very important topic all over the world, including Hong Kong, as we all fully understand that the population ageing we are facing is unprecedented and irreversible. In light of this, different measures and planning are studied and explored to mitigate the negative impact of ageing population to a society. Public transportation system, however, is not widely studied to be utilized as a means to help tackling the problems associated with ageing population. In other words, the potential of public transportation system is obviously under-developed currently. Therefore, this study is conducted to evaluate the role, and its potential, of public transportation system in Hong Kong in increasing the mobility of elderly. It is also to evaluate the existing problems of public transportation system in Hong Kong, in terms of their elderly-friendliness and efficiency in promoting elderly travel. Primary data will be collected and analyzed to evaluate the general characteristics of elderly travel, their perception towards public transportation and the relative importance of factors governing elderly’s travel behaviour. These findings will guide us to fully explore the potential of public transportation system in Hong Kong, in promoting elderly mobility. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

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The baby boomer generation began turning sixty-five in 2011. Twenty percent of the U.S. population will be over age sixty-five by 2030. Such a rapidly aging population has posed significant challenges to transportation planning and operating agencies since this large number of aging boomers demand dependable transportation access so they can remain independent and age in place. It is crucial to understand, in a timely manner, aging Americans’ travel mode choices, their preferences and perspectives on transportation supports, and communication channels through which they prefer to receive information on existing and new transportation options. My dissertation presents three essays to explore these important and urgent issues. Essay One uses the 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data to investigate whether the predominant travel preference—favoring private automobiles—hold for different groups of aging Americans. The analyses not only include the commonly used travel mode choice factors, such as socio-demographics, built environment, and transportation attributes; but also include behavioral aspects such as attitudes towards safety, congestion, public transit, and walking environment. Results show no evidence that Americans are giving up driving as they age. Therefore, planning as though baby boomers will give up driving private automobiles as they age is not likely to be successful. Results also imply that although it may not be effective for existing seniors, promoting positive attitudes on certain travel options that were otherwise not preferred by middle-aged boomers (e.g., public transit) could be a useful way to encourage this group of boomers to change their future travel mode choices. Essay Two discusses the design and implementation of my own survey on senior transportation options. A comprehensive survey questionnaire is constructed to target various user groups of senior transportation services, including seniors, caregivers and their elderly dependents, and younger individuals. All these respondents represent current or future customers of senior transportation services. The survey is then successfully implemented via the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing platform. Survey data collected from the MTurk platform represents a fairly diversified population; it can capture respondents from different socio-demographic categories, and it shares a similar distribution pattern with the general population data (e.g., U.S. Census) and the large-scale nationwide transportation survey using random sampling method (e.g., NHTS). Essay Three analyzes my MTurk survey data and investigates the impact of behavioral factors derived from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) on travel mode choices among different user groups of senior transportation services. Survey respondents’ preferences on types of senior transportation supports, as well as respondents’ preferable channels from which they want to receive information about senior transportation options, are also examined. Results show attitude factors (e.g., convenience, preference, and independence) in general are perceived as more important drivers for seniors’ mode choices than other aspects of TPB (e.g., social norm, feasibility, and cost). This indicates more attention should be drawn to attitude factors, rather than the traditional concerns such as feasibility and cost, when designing and implementing interventions on senior transportation services. Compared to the extant literature, this dissertation research reveals a more comprehensive set of the factors that affect aging Americans’ travel mode choices. In particular, it highlights the important role of behavioral factors in seniors’ travel model choices. This dissertation research also demonstrates that Amazon MTurk can serve as a valuable crowdsourcing platform for planning related surveys, experiments, and data collections, especially when addressing timely issues such as aging Americans’ travel needs. It generates useful insights for researchers and practitioners to develop effective policy and service interventions to improve senior’s transportation access, and to address transportation challenges along with the rapid population aging process.

Transport forms an essential element of people's lives. It is transport which determines how people access important resources and it influences the mobility of people. Transport availability improves access to resources and hence fights isolation, which derives from lack of access to resources. This case study examines the influence of transport on access to state grants and health services. The study was based on sample of 170 recipients of state grants and was carried out in September 2000. A quantitative survey through face-to-face interviews of pensioners and other recipients of state grants at two remote rural points was carried out. The results of the study showed that poor road and path infrastructure impacts negatively on old people's access to pension payout points and health services. As a result of poor road infrastructure, people have limited access to alternative means of transport and hence have to pay too much for transport to reach services essential to their livelihoods. In addition to the transport cost these elderly have to pay, they also have an extra burden of having to care for the orphans and unemployed adults staying with them. This puts an enormous pressure on their limited resources and hence deepens the cycle of poverty. The majority of people interviewed were positive about the quality of health service they are receiving and the attitude of health workers. There was no correlation between the quality of services received and the demand for using them. Amongst other things, it has been suggested that locating basic services particularly welfare services and health services nearer rural communities will improve the quality of life and minimize the cost of reaching such services. Furthermore infra structural intervention will impact positively on rural communities by providing them with a wider choice of transport and promoting intermediate means of transport. This will have a positive impact on rural communities by increasing the accessibility of services and improving mobility. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Over the next decade the ‘Baby Boomer' cohort will increasingly contribute to the proportion of those aged 60 and over in Britain. The issue of how the mobility of older people has changed for different cohort groups has not been considered in a historical context. Ryder (1965) argued that cohort groups could be important in determining behaviour as have other social structural factors, such as socioeconomic status. This thesis merges the disciplines of transport geography and population studies using a novel approach of cohort analysis, which has not been used widely for studying mobility trends. Using National Travel Survey data from 1995-2008, the mobility trends of older people in Britain are explored by creating pseudo cohorts. Pseudo cohorts are artificially created datasets which are constructed from using repeated cross-sectional data (McIntosh, 2005, Uren, 2006). This technique can differentiate ‘age', ‘period' and ‘cohort' effects in mobility trends. Age effects are differences in behaviour between age groups i.e. changes in mobility associated with age itself. Period effects relate to changes in behaviour in all age groups over a period of time. Cohort effects are those associated with behaviour common to particular groups born around the same time (Glenn, 2005, Yang, 2007). The influence of the Scottish concessionary travel policy on the mobility of older people at the aggregate level is also considered using Scottish Household Survey data from 1999-2008. This policy is very blunt and based on assumptions about older age. As cohorts differ, these assumptions may no longer hold and therefore the policy may not be effective. This thesis argues, using a longitudinal demographic perspective, that structural effects shape mobility of cohorts differently over time. The findings reveal although mobility amongst older people is rising in general, there would actually be declining mobility were it not for the Boomer cohort. Amongst younger cohorts mobility is lower. The analysis also shows that women travel further than men, a fundamental break with the past, specific to this generation. This thesis illustrates the importance of cohort membership in explaining mobility change.