Travel behavior of low income older adults and implementation of an accessibility calculator

Publication date: Available online 26 March 2015 Source:Journal of Transport & Health Author(s): Md Moniruzzaman , Anna Chudyk , Antonio Páez , Meghan Winters , Joanie Sims-Gould , Heather McKay Given the aging demographic landscape, the concept of walkable neighborhoods has emerged as a topic of interest, especially during the last decade. However, we know very little about whether walkable neighborhoods promote walking among older adults, particularly those with lower incomes. Therefore in this paper we: (i) examine the relation between trip distance and socio-demographic attributes and accessibility features of lower income older adults in Metro Vancouver; and, (ii) implement a web-based application to calculate the accessibility of lower income older adults in Metro Vancouver based on their travel behavior. We use multilevel linear regression to estimate the determinants of trip length. We find that in this population distance traveled is associated with gender, living arrangements, and dog ownership. Furthermore, significant geographical variations (measured using a trend surface) were also found. To better visualize the impact of travel behavior on accessibility by personal profile and location, we also implemented a web-based calculator that generates an Accessibility (A)-score using Google Maps API v3 that can be used to evaluate the accessibility of neighborhoods from the perspective of older adults.
Source: Journal of Transport and Health - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research