When I’m 64: Assessing Generational Differences in Public Transit Use of Seniors in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

The growth rate of adults older than 65 in Canada is increasing more rapidly than the population as a whole. This increase is reflective of the aging baby boomer population. That population is known to have a strong attachment to automobiles, which might be reflected in their travel behavior as they move toward different stages in their older life. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the travel behavior, mainly public transit usage, of Canada’s older population relative to younger cohorts. A pseudocohort analysis was conducted in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, of residents who were 50 or older to follow changes in public transit use of similarly aged respondents from 1998 to 2013. The results revealed that older generations used public transit more than younger generations did at the same age. In addition, the most recent survey year showed a stagnation of transit use across all age groups. Differences in transit use between males and females were more pronounced in earlier cohorts, but the difference was decreasing in more recent years. These findings add to the growing body of work suggesting that the nature of transportation behavior in seniors is changing, and accordingly planners and engineers cannot expect the baby boomer generation to behave the same way as previous generations. Addressing the transportation needs of seniors around the world will be an important challenge for planners and engineers, as the population of seniors is growing more rapidly than the population as a whole in the majority of developed countries. This growth imposes new challenges on the transportation system because of differences in the travel behavior of today’s older adults compared with that of previous cohorts of seniors.

Factors Associated with Travel Behavior of Millennials and Older Adults: A Scoping Review

“…The remaining studies (68 in total) applied quantitative techniques to explore the factors associated with travel behavior, with 50 using aggregate national or regional level datasets. Only two studies used panel data [22,23], and the rest are cross-sectional, although four studies created 'pseudo panels' using cross-sectional national level datasets [24][25][26][27].…”

“…Buehler and Nobis [4] compared the travel behavior between German and US elderly populations and found that elderly Germans tend to walk, bike, and ride transit more frequently compared to the US elderly. Regarding the use of alternatives to the car, one study suggested that older seniors are resistant towards adopting alternative forms of transportation, although increasing use of alternative forms is noticed among younger seniors [25]. Unfamiliarity with the service, not being habituated in using the service, lack of knowledge on the required technology (e.g., smartphone applications) could be the reasons behind their lack of interest in using other modes of transport except the car [25,41].…”

“…Moreover, car ownership discourages transit ridership. Overall, transit use is low among older adults [17,25,28,39], especially among those with a car [5]. Mode choice also depends on trip purpose.…”

“…Nevertheless, the car is the prominent mode among older adults [44] and holding a driver's license is very important in order to fulfill their driving needs [45]. Studies mentioned several reasons behind the decrease in mobility as well as car trips such as aging [4,25,38,46], illness or physical impairment [5,13,21,46], taking care of a family member [21], retirement [46], and decline in affordability [5,21]. Widowhood may also shift away the mode of travel of older females from car-driver to other modes [13].…”

“…One of the reasons could be that women travel less compared to men in general. Older women are also more likely to use car alternatives such as walking, cycling, and using transit [20,25,35,37,40,42]. One study showed an opposite finding, reporting higher rates of walking, cycling, and transit use among males compared to females [38].…”