IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/trapol/v29y2013icp136-144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Baby boomers’ mobility patterns and preferences: What are the implications for future transport?

Author

Listed:
  • Siren, Anu
  • Haustein, Sonja

Abstract

The demographic grand challenge of population ageing will be reflected in most areas of society and, to a great extent, in the area of transportation as well. It will have an impact on, for example, travel demand, infrastructure needs, traffic safety and the climate. The post-World War II cohorts, the so-called “baby boomers”, will comprise a large share of tomorrow's older population, and it is expected that they will differ from their parents’ generation when they grow old. In order to better understand how the ageing baby boomers may affect future travel demand, the travel behaviour and expectations of Danish baby boomers were analysed based on 1772 standardised telephone interviews. In general, the baby boomers reported being healthy, independent and highly (auto)mobile. They were also optimistic regarding their level of mobility, capability to use a variety of travel modes and ability to lead an independent life in the future. However, there were significant gender differences in terms of present and expected car use in old age, which were somewhat similar to those observed in older cohorts. In addition, different sub groups of baby boomers could be identified based on their future expectations: the so-called Flexibles, Independents and Restricted subjects. The segments showed significant differences in current travel behaviour and living conditions, as well as some similarities to former segments of older road users. The results indicate that the baby boomers are likely to be strong consumers of the transport system also as they age, but that the group is also heterogeneous. Thus, overly optimistic scenarios about independent baby boomers who differ from the previous generations and whose need for external support in old age will be minimal may be unrealistic.

Suggested Citation

  • Siren, Anu & Haustein, Sonja, 2013. "Baby boomers’ mobility patterns and preferences: What are the implications for future transport?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 136-144.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:29:y:2013:i:c:p:136-144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.05.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X13000838
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.05.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. van den Berg, Pauline & Arentze, Theo & Timmermans, Harry, 2011. "Estimating social travel demand of senior citizens in the Netherlands," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 323-331.
    2. Theo Arentze & Harry Timmermans & Peter Jorritsma & Marie-José Olde Kalter & Arnout Schoemakers, 2008. "More gray hair—but for whom? Scenario-based simulations of elderly activity travel patterns in 2020," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 613-627, August.
    3. Eric Hildebrand, 2003. "Dimensions in elderly travel behaviour: A simplified activity-based model using lifestyle clusters," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 285-306, August.
    4. Antonio Paez & Darren Scott & Dimitris Potoglou & Pavlos Kanaroglou & K. Bruce Newbold, 2007. "Elderly Mobility: Demographic and Spatial Analysis of Trip Making in the Hamilton CMA, Canada," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 44(1), pages 123-146, January.
    5. Luis Miranda-Moreno & Martin Lee-Gosselin, 2008. "A week in the life of baby boomers: how do they see the spatial–temporal organization of their activities and travel?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 35(5), pages 629-653, August.
    6. Sonja Haustein, 2012. "Mobility behavior of the elderly: an attitude-based segmentation approach for a heterogeneous target group," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1079-1103, November.
    7. Hjorthol, Randi J. & Levin, Lena & Sirén, Anu, 2010. "Mobility in different generations of older persons," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 624-633.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lars Böcker & Patrick Amen & Marco Helbich, 2017. "Elderly travel frequencies and transport mode choices in Greater Rotterdam, the Netherlands," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 831-852, July.
    2. Hahn, Jin-Seok & Kim, Hyoung-Chul & Kim, Joon-Ki & Ulfarsson, Gudmundur F., 2016. "Trip making of older adults in Seoul: Differences in effects of personal and household characteristics by age group and trip purpose," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 55-62.
    3. Figueroa, Maria J. & Nielsen, Thomas A. Sick & Siren, Anu, 2014. "Comparing urban form correlations of the travel patterns of older and younger adults," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 10-20.
    4. Su, Rongxiang & Xiao, Jingyi & McBride, Elizabeth C. & Goulias, Konstadinos G., 2021. "Understanding senior's daily mobility patterns in California using human mobility motifs," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    5. Mitra, Suman & Yao, Mingqi & Ritchie, Stephen G., 2021. "Gender differences in elderly mobility in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 203-226.
    6. Mifsud, Deborah & Attard, Maria & Ison, Stephen, 2017. "To drive or to use the bus? An exploratory study of older people in Malta," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 23-32.
    7. Shao, Fengjing & Sui, Yi & Yu, Xiang & Sun, Rencheng, 2019. "Spatio-temporal travel patterns of elderly people – A comparative study based on buses usage in Qingdao, China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 178-190.
    8. Liu, Shasha & Yamamoto, Toshiyuki & Yao, Enjian & Nakamura, Toshiyuki, 2021. "Examining public transport usage by older adults with smart card data: A longitudinal study in Japan," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    9. Ryan, Jean & Wretstrand, Anders & Schmidt, Steven M., 2015. "Exploring public transport as an element of older persons' mobility: A Capability Approach perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 105-114.
    10. Samira Ramezani & Tiina Laatikainen & Kamyar Hasanzadeh & Marketta Kyttä, 2021. "Shopping trip mode choice of older adults: an application of activity space and hybrid choice models in understanding the effects of built environment and personal goals," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 505-536, April.
    11. He, Sylvia Y. & Cheung, Yannie H.Y. & Tao, Sui, 2018. "Travel mobility and social participation among older people in a transit metropolis: A socio-spatial-temporal perspective," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 608-626.
    12. Yang, Dujuan & Timmermans, Harry & Grigolon, Anna, 2013. "Exploring heterogeneity in travel time expenditure of aging populations in the Netherlands: results of a CHAID analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 170-179.
    13. Ahmad, Zaheer & Batool, Zahara & Starkey, Paul, 2019. "Understanding mobility characteristics and needs of older persons in urban Pakistan with respect to use of public transport and self-driving," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 181-190.
    14. Sonja Haustein, 2012. "Mobility behavior of the elderly: an attitude-based segmentation approach for a heterogeneous target group," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1079-1103, November.
    15. Mercado, Ruben & Páez, Antonio & Newbold, K. Bruce, 2010. "Transport policy and the provision of mobility options in an aging society: a case study of Ontario, Canada," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 649-661.
    16. Feng, Jianxi & Dijst, Martin & Wissink, Bart & Prillwitz, Jan, 2013. "The impacts of household structure on the travel behaviour of seniors and young parents in China," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 117-126.
    17. Boschmann, E. Eric & Brady, Sylvia A., 2013. "Travel behaviors, sustainable mobility, and transit-oriented developments: a travel counts analysis of older adults in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-11.
    18. Soltani, Ali & Pojani, Dorina & Askari, Sajad & Masoumi, Houshmand E., 2018. "Socio-demographic and built environment determinants of car use among older adults in Iran," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 109-117.
    19. Johnson, Rebecca & Shaw, Jon & Berding, Jörn & Gather, Matthias & Rebstock, Markus, 2017. "European national government approaches to older people's transport system needs," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 17-27.
    20. Marquet, Oriol & Miralles-Guasch, Carme, 2015. "Neighbourhood vitality and physical activity among the elderly: The role of walkable environments on active ageing in Barcelona, Spain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 24-30.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:29:y:2013:i:c:p:136-144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30473/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.