No abstract

Journal homepage: http://sjsutst.polsl.pl Article citation information:Hebel, K., Wołek, M. Change trends in the use of passenger cars on urban trips: car-pooling in Gdynia.

With the increasing role of senior citizens in modern societies it is important to know, inter alia, their transportation preferences and travel behaviour. The article presents the definition of a senior citizen taking account of different age of a person defining the beginning of this stage in life. Afterwards, various stages of seniors’ lives were distinguished as regards changes in lifestyle. The average life expectancy was also specified, defining the beginning of senior stage of life. The main part of this article was dedicated to the specificity of transportation preferences and travel behaviour of seniors as a specific group of the inhabitants of Gdynia, located within Gdańsk Metropolis. To this end, the data gathered during representative research conducted in 2015 was used. By analysing the data it was possible to determine the specificity of seniors’ urban travel purposes and their demands taking particular account of the comfort of travel. The article presents the modes of travel of seniors against all inhabitants considered collectively searching for determinants of choosing a particular mode of travel. Moreover, the article presents differences in assessing the quality of public transport by seniors and all inhabitants of the city. The final part provides conclusions drawn from the conducted research.

The study introduces the notion of "travel behaviour" among urban inhabitants, as well as highlighting its most common determinants, one of which is the perception of public transport. The study includes a comparative analysis of the link between passenger perceptions of the main modes of public transport in relation to the actual mode of transport chosen to complete a certain journey, based on market research results collected within a given city.

Time constitutes one of the basic parameters by which the quality of urban travel is measured as well as one of the main determinants of choice of the mode of travel. Knowledge of the time of urban travel, assuming the rationality of passengers’ choices, allows the transport behaviour of urban inhabitants to be forecasted. Research into the time of urban travel is based on establishing the forecasted and actual time it takes to inhabitants to travel to their place of work or education, carried out as part of research into transport preferences and behaviour. Such research takes into account the mode of transportation, as well as particular stages of the trip, and in doing so aims to define determinants of change of the time of travel and how they affect a passenger’s choice of mode of travel. Research into time of travel is conducted periodically in Gdynia – a fact which allows retrospective analysis to be carried out in this regard for this city. The aim of this article is to present the length, structure and change in travel time of the inhabitants of Gdynia in the years 2010–2015.