Travel behaviour of seniors in Eastern Europe: a comparative study of Brno and Bratislava

Abstract

Purpose Although seniors represent a sizable group of a population with distinctive travelling needs, we lack knowledge about their travel behaviour related to usage of public transport in the context of Eastern Europe. This study aims to describe patterns of travel behaviour of senior citizens in two cities with similar size and key mobility characteristics -Brno (Czech Republic) and Bratislava (Slovakia). Methods The data was collected via travel behaviour survey. The final sample from Bratislava consisted of 1961 seniors of the age of 70 and older who accounted for 3343 trips. The final sample in Brno contained 63 seniors of the age of 70 years and older who conducted 151 trips. Results On average, inhabitants of Bratislava older than 70 years conducted 1.7 trips per day, whereas it was 1.5 trips per day in Brno. The seniors from Bratislava averagely spent 40 min on their trips per day and single trip usually took 24 min to them. In comparison, senior citizens from Brno mostly needed 28 min per single trip, albeit their daily travel took almost the same time (41 min). When it comes to mode choice, while seniors from Bratislava prefer walking the most (44%), their counterparts from Brno predominantly chose public transport (57%). Conclusion In summary, seniors from Brno aged 70 years and over use public transport significantly more than their counterparts from Bratislava. As a result, public transport allows them to travel further, which in turn gives them more opportunities to satisfy their needs.

Public opinion on connected and automated vehicles: the Czech context

“…It is in spite the fact that the travel behaviour of the public in the Czech Republic, a member of the former Eastern Bloc, now a member of the European Union, differs from many Western countries. As an example, there is a higher share of public transportation in the modal split in the Czech Republic (Šimeček, Gabrhel, Tögel, & Lazor, 2018). Different travel behaviour patterns may relate to different ways of using CAVs.…”

The social perception of urban transport in the city of Madrid: the application of the Servicescape Model to the bus and underground services

“…This 'social atmosphere' is included in a wider definition of Servicescape, in which the influence of other consumers on the consumer in question's perception of the service is also taken into consideration [5,6]. According to Šimeček et al [61], a model that would reflect reality more reliably would include relevant psychological factors (such as perceptions or attitudes) or generally human elements influencing theirs choices. Although it would be possible to broaden the concept of Servicescape to include the natural, cultural, temporal or political environments, these definitions of the environment are not within the scope of the present effort [63].…”

Approach Methodology for Comprehensive Assessing the Public Passenger Transport Timetable Performances at a Regional Scale

“…The minimum quality standards for the comprehensive assessment of an individual connection within a selected transport network (within a geographical area) are determined on the basis of the following indicators [15,[36][37][38][39]:…”

“…This study is also focused on time-based synchronization in transfer points, as discussed in transport related studies in publications as well [39][40][41][42][43][44], where the effects of travel times on cost savings in terms of commuting on public transport routes and passengers' behavior under regional conditions in Eastern Europe are sequentially being discussed. Support for individual transport mode connections to the railway network is examined in [45,46], and a variety of case studies to increase the share of railway transport within the limitations of existing railway network are addressed in [47][48][49][50][51].…”