Analysis of Elderly Travel Patterns in Seoul Metropolitan Area, South Korea, through Sequence Alignment and Motif Search

Abstract

This paper analyzes travel behavior of the elderly in Seoul, South Korea, and focuses on pedestrian travel. A sequence alignment method is used, together with an analysis of the mean travel characteristics. The analysis results illustrate several important findings. First, as an overall characteristic, elderly people's mode of travel is primarily pedestrian for every category of trip purpose. Most activities are conducted locally; more distant travel is generally reserved for medical purposes and family visits. Second, factors that discourage the elderly from traveling include older age, living alone, a high level of physical disability, a low level of education, long distances from home to the nearest public transit, having paid work, and an inability to drive. Finally, regarding the sequential characteristics of travel, the motifs (the multidimensional subsequences common to travel patterns) can be distinguished between elderly subpopulations in terms of the variables of disability, occupation, living expenses, day of travel, distance to the nearest bus stop, who the individual lives with, ability to drive, neighborhood, and age. On average, most trips are chained to a trip for leisure at home and are made on foot within a limited spatial range; the motifs appear with different frequencies in different elderly subpopulations.