Mobility of Canadian Elderly: Multilevel Analysis of Distance Traveled in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area, Ontario, Canada

The general objective of this study is to determine individual and neighborhood characteristics that affect distance traveled and the variability of these factors on each mode type using multilevel analysis. It hopes to contribute to the general discussion on land use-travel links with reference to promoting communities facilitating healthy aging while further building up the GIS-based decision support system for evaluating the impact of demographic change and socio-economic policies in the study area. This paper highlighted the general decline in the trip frequency, length, and duration as age advances and displayed that the gender divide tends to vanish among the elderly. But men strive to drive as long as possible while women tend to become car, bus and taxi passengers when they get older. The results suggest the expansion of mobility choices for the elderly upon driving cessation and for these to be gender sensitive. Multilevel analysis showed that while neighborhood attributes such as location and land use mix are important, the great majority of the variation in distance traveled can be explained at the level of the individual than it is by the differences between neighborhoods in the area. The implication is that, land use policies would find greater weight when the issue being addressed by policy is towards the encouragement of the use of non-car modes over that of private vehicles. If not, policy efforts should be directed at the level of individual behavior, e.g. pricing, tax regulations, etc.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Paez, Antonio
  • Mercado, Ruben Gertes
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 23p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Gender; Land use; Mobility; Mode choice; Public transit; Transportation policy; Travel behavior; Travel demand; Trip length
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01050236
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-2819
• Files: BTRIS, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 31 2007 7:29AM