Speaker
Description
The growing population of older adults in North America faces numerous challenges in meeting their everyday transportation needs. In Canada, the oldest and most rapidly aging cities are mid-sized cities with populations between 100,000 to 1 million (Government of Canada, 2024). Compared to large metropolitan areas, mid-sized cities tend to rely more heavily on personal automobile-based transportation and are less likely to have developed and implemented age-friendly planning considerations (Hartt & Biglieri, 2018). However, our understanding of the transportation needs of older adults residing in mid-sized cities remains highly limited, as most prior research has focused on data from large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Toronto, and Phoenix (Loukaitou-Sideris et al., 2019). Furthermore, very little research has specifically addressed the gendered mobility needs of older adults (Mitra et al., 2021).
In this paper, we examine the local transportation needs, and the challenges faced in fulfilling those needs by older adult women living in mid-sized cities. We use Kingston, a mid-sized Canadian city located in Ontario, as our case study. The city has a total population of 132,485, with a large proportion of older adults comprising approximately 21.05% of the total population, and older adult women making up 11.9% (Statistics Canada, 2021). Kingston offers multiple local transportation options, including a reasonably good public transit service and a highly walkable core (Schiller, 2019). Hence, the city is an appropriate choice for this study.
For this study, we collected primary data using semi-structured interviews. The data, organized in the NVivo software, was analyzed using thematic analytical method. Our preliminary findings indicate that driving remains the most preferred local transportation option for our respondents. For those who can no longer drive, local family, friends, and neighbors provide rides. Taxis are far more popular compared to ride-hailing apps such as UBER. Using public transit is not even a consideration for most, if not all, we interviewed. Interestingly, the primary reason for not considering public transit is none of the usual suspects such as inconvenience, walking distance to the nearest transit stop, or safety concerns. Instead, the main reason is unfamiliarity with the workings of public transit, and anxiety provoked by thoughts of using something for the first time at respondents' old age. Our interviewees reported that they have never used public transit in Canada in their lives and are now reluctant to try it given their age and frailty.
The next steps in the research include expanding to a larger sample spread across more cities and adding focus group discussions to explore potential solutions to the challenges.
References
Government of Canada (2024). Choose a city, Medium-sized cities. Retrieved January 02, 2025 from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/new-immigrants/prepare-life-canada/choose-city.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Hartt, M. & Biglieri, S. (2018). Prepared for the silver tsunami? An examination of municipal old-age dependency and age-friendly policy in Ontario, Canada. Journal of Urban Affairs, 40 (5), 625-638.
Loukaitou-Sideris, A., Wachs, M., & Pinski, M. (2019). Toward a richer picture of the mobility needs of older Americans. Journal of the American Planning Association, 85 (4), 482-500.
Mitra, S., Yao, M., & Ritchie, S. G. (2021). Gender differences in elderly mobility in the United States. Transportation Research part A: Policy and Practice, 154, 203-226.
Rosenbloom, S. (2009). Meeting transportation needs in an aging-friendly community. Journal of the American Society on Aging, 33, 33–43
Schiller, P. L. (2019). How Kingston Doubled Its Transit Ridership Within 10 Years. Plan Canada 59 (2), 14-18.
Statistics Canada (2021). Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population for Kingston. Retrieved January 02, 2025 from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1,4&HEADERlist=0&DGUIDlist=2021A00053510010&SearchText=Kingston
| Keywords | Old Adults; Transportation |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
