Psychosocial Barriers of Public Transport Use and Social Exclusion among Older Adults: Empirical Evidence from Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Transport planning and public health have been intertwined historically. The health impact of public transport services, such as social exclusion, is a widely discussed research topic. Social exclusion is a paramount concern for older adults’ health in the wake of emerging global challenges. However, there remains a significant research gap on how psychosocial barriers faced by older adults in using public transport services influence the social exclusion behavior. The present research provides empirical evidence and shows the impact of certain psychosocial barriers of public transportation on older adults’ social exclusion. A total of 243 Pakistani older adults (aged 60–89 years old) voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study. The participants provided self-reports on their psychosocial barriers (including perceived norms, attitude, personal ability, habits, neighborhood social constraints, and intention) and the corresponding social exclusion. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized for the data analysis. The structural path model supported the significant associations between psychosocial barriers and social exclusion. Except for perceived descriptive norms, all other psychosocial barriers predicted older adults’ social exclusion. The research portrays the significance of the psychosocial factors to examine social exclusion and offers practical implications for urban and transport planners. The concerned policymakers can use the research findings to develop age-sensitive, socially sustainable, and healthy cities.

A region-wide survey on emotional and psychological impacts of COVID-19 on public transport choices in Sicily, Italy

“…Given the importance of these psychological stimulations during the COVID-19 pandemic phases and the emerging challenges, recent research has also considered the psychological perspective to analyze travel behavior. The psychosocial and situational aspects can influence modal choices, often becoming a real barrier resulting from various factors such as age (Al-Rashid et al, 2021) or gender (Al-Rashid et al,2020;Harumain et al, 2021). Transport demand from the early stages of the pandemic was also strongly influenced by these behavioral aspects (Anagnostopoulou et al, 2020;Borkowski et al,2021).…”

“…This probably happened because older people do generally have fewer digital competencies and they would be more reluctant to participate in an online survey (Politis et al, 2021). Moreover, people who are over 60 years old are already retired and/or rarely use public transport due to certain psy- cho-social barriers which have been identified both in Italy (Mariotti,et al,2021) and in other countries (Al-Rashid et al, 2021). About 60% of the sample are employees, and 15% are freelancers, while the remaining 26% carry out another type of work activity.…”

Scaling the Potential of Compact City Development: The Case of Lahore, Pakistan

“…Different forms of mobility are promoted to encourage sustainable travel modes such as walking, cycling, and using public transport. Environmental, social, and economic benefits are suggested to accrue as there would be less dependence on cars and reduced greenhouse gas emissions [7,[16][17][18].…”

Is Local Public Transport unsuitable for elderly? Exploring the cases of two Italian cities

“…Poor accessibility and mobility may cause social exclusion, that is a process in which a person or group cannot participate effectively in mainstream society. The process of social exclusion restricts socioeconomic participation, which ultimately affects the health, life quality, cohesion, and equity of the ageing society (Al-Rashid et al, 2021). According to Lucas (2012), the concept of social exclusion emphasises the interactions between a series of factors.…”