Assessment of the Transportation Needs of Pennsylvania's Elderly Population

Abstract

We focus on the transportation needs of the elderly as determined by a randomly selected sample of 2,048 elderly Pennsylvania residents. We provide an analysis of those factors that can discriminate between the elderly (1) who express a need for transportation services versus those who do not and (2) who use transportation services and who do not. Car ownership, health status, living arrangement, race, martial status, sex, and age are significantly related to the elderly's perceived need of transportation services. Factors significant in discriminating between users and nonusers of transportation services are perceived need, car ownership, urban-rural residence, age, and living arrangement. Implications of this analysis for policy-makers and researchers are discussed.

Community Based Service Use with Service Coordinators and Case Managers in a Shared Cost Program

“…Differences in service use by race are diminished when level of service awareness and access are controlled for (Cox, 1997, Mitchell, 1995. Increased age leads to increased service use, but, when elders become very old (i.e., 80 years or older) they are less likely to use home nursing services and other CBS (Iutcovich & Iutcovich, 1988;Mui & Burnette, 1994).…”

“…Additionally, clients with higher incomes may not look to government programs for services. For example, clients with higher incomes are less likely to use transportation services (Iutcovich & Iutcovich, 1988).…”

Poverty Among Rural Elders: Trends, Context, and Directions for Policy

“…Lack of access to transportation places older persons at increased risks for social and economic disadvantage and reduces their ability to maintain independent households. Transportation disadvantage increases over the life course as individuals age, experience illness and disability, and lose members of their social networks who provided them with transportation (Iutcovich & Iutcovich, 1988). Older individuals are at high risk of becoming transportation disadvantaged in rural areas because formal substitutes may not be available to fill the void left when self-provided and informally provided services diminish.…”

Research on Services for the Elderly

“…She found little variation among regions within Great Britain, but Metro Paris was the best of three regions in France in both coverage and targeting of the "needy." Groups identified as "needy" by Curtis typically have higher rates of utilization of services in the United States than the total older population, particularly those living alone and those community residents with moderate to severe physical limitations (Iutcovich andIutcovich, 1988, Newhouse andMcAuley, 1987;Smith and Hiltner, 1988;Stone, 1986). Service-specific reasons are also significant in explaining variation in service utilization; for example, older people without cars are more likely to use mass transit (Iutcovich and Iutcovich, 1988;Kotranski, Bolick, and Halbert, 1987;Smith and Hiltner, 1988), and those with perceived immediate need were more likely to use specific services (McCaslin, 1988).…”