An Analysis on Relations between Mobility of Elderly People and Service Level of Public Transportation Systems

Abstract

In Japan, public transportation system in many areas has suffered a severe decline with the decrease in population and the advance of motorization. There are a lot of elderly people who are unable to drive. When they go out, they are often obliged to use extremely inconvenient public transportation systems, or walk or go by bicycles if their destinations are relatively near, or have someone driven for them. Sometimes, they have to abandon planned outings for minor physical, climatic, or other reasons (“non-realized travel”).It is reasonable to conclude that limited mobility is increasing among the elderly because of a decline in the public transportation system which is commonly the only choice for non-drivers. The issue how to make the public transportaion services offer an appropriate level of mobility for elderly non-drivers.Thus, this study, at first, investigates the present situation by using the data of person trip survey which was taken in October 1989 in the Ryomo Region (including parts of Gunma Prefecture and Tochigi Prefecture) of Japan. Why we use this data base is because the average number of cars per family in Gunma Prefecture and Tochigi Prefecture are ranked in the first and the second respectively in Japan.Furthermore, the multiple regression analyses among the mobility and the service level of the public transportation system, the status of the elderly are carried out. In the study, the mobility means the percentage of the people having trips, the net trip number per person, and the travel time in one day. And the service level is represented by two kinds of indexes in geography and frequency. As the results, some suggestions are given for improving the public transportation system.