Perceived Accessibility, Satisfaction with Daily Travel, and Life Satisfaction among the Elderly

Abstract

People are living longer than they did previously, and the proportion of older people is increasing worldwide. This rapid development will have implications for the transport system, in general, and for travel behavior and accessibility to daily activities, in particular. In recent years, both research and politics have drawn the attention of the public to issues affecting the opportunities of the elderly to participate in everyday life. The debate has so far mostly focused on health issues, with limited work having been done on the ability of the elderly to live the lives they want to considering how they travel. With this view, a theoretical model, grounded in a model of travel and subjective wellbeing was developed to explore the role of perceived accessibility in satisfaction with travel and life satisfaction. Empirical data were collected from a sample of 2950 respondents (aged 60–92) from five cities in Northern Europe (Stockholm, Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Bergen) and analyzed using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings confirmed the link between perceived accessibility, travel satisfaction, and life satisfaction. The findings also showed the role of sociodemographic and travel attributes in perceived accessibility and satisfaction with travel, as well as the moderating effects of different age groups. We conclude that this moderating role played by age clearly indicates that we should not treat the elderly as a homogenous group in research and transport planning.

Public Transport Quality, Safety, and Perceived Accessibility

“…Contrary to other findings [25] where no age differences for perceived accessibility were detected, we found that perceived accessibility increases with age for our sample. A possible explanation for increased perceived accessibility among elderly age groups, despite the age-related decline in physical prerequisites for easy travel, is offered by Lättman et al [43] and poses that the elderly travel less and to fewer destinations than younger people do, and thus are less dependent on transport systems. Our findings, and recent findings among other researchers [20], imply though that subjective factors, such as attitudes and functionality, may be better predictors of perceived accessibility than sociodemographic factors, such as age.…”

“…In such a scenario, there is a need to lift those attributes that are important to public transport-related perceived accessibility, such as quality aspects and travel safety perceptions, in order to maintain a level of perceived accessibility that offers satisfactory possibilities to engage in daily activities. In any case, as perceived accessibility recently has been linked to life satisfaction [43], it appears important not only to examine the role of perceptions of accessibility for modal choice but to also further explore the effect of modal choice on perceived accessibility.…”

Differences in the Potential Accessibility of Home-Based Healthcare Services among Different Groups of Older Adults: A Case from Shaanxi Province, China

“…Regarding the research on the accessibility of healthcare services, most scholars only focus on the accessibility of healthcare services facilities for the older adults [5][6][7]. Although some scholars have also paid attention to the accessibility of intelligent services [8], network service [9], public service [10], life satisfaction [11], etc., all are based on the realized accessibility, ignoring the potential opportunities and willingness of the older adults to use healthcare services. This not only hinders the access to healthcare services, but also is not conducive to stimulate the healthcare service market.…”

Daily Travel and Wellbeing among the Elderly

“…A theoretical model of the relationship between perceived accessibility, satisfaction with travel, and life satisfaction is presented by Lättman, Olsson Friman and Fujii [4]. These researchers argue that older people's perceived possibilities of accessing activities are closely linked to their wellbeing.…”

“…These researchers argue that older people's perceived possibilities of accessing activities are closely linked to their wellbeing. Lättman et al [4] define perceived accessibility in terms of perceived possibilities of accessing activities that are of importance to everyday life, or in terms of "how easy it is to live a satisfactory life considering how people travel". Empirical testing of the model showed that perceived accessibility influences travel satisfaction, in that a higher degree of perceived accessibility (ease of travel, possibilities of traveling, and access to preferred activities) increases satisfaction with travel, while a lower degree of perceived accessibility decreases satisfaction with travel.…”