Analysis of travel characteristics and access mode choice of elderly urban rail riders in Denver, Colorado

Abstract

With the proportion of the elderly increasing worldwide, significant research efforts have been devoted to understanding the travel characteristics of the ageing population. Our research contributes to a limited number of studies that have investigated how the elderly (65+) access urban rail in comparison to younger adults (19–64). Using descriptive and econometric analyses of on-board survey data from Denver, Colorado, we respond to the following two research questions: (1) How do trip characteristics, including access and egress mode, trip purpose, choice of station, and travel time of elderly urban rail riders differ from those of their younger counterparts? (2) Do the determinants of access mode choice, such as built environment and individual characteristics, impact differently the choices of elderly and younger adult riders? Our results indicate that the elderly urban rail users differ from the average elderly population in the US in terms of their employment status (46% of the elderly Denver rail riders are employed). Consequently, dissimilarities in travel behavior between elderly and younger adult riders are on average lower than expected, although important differences are still observed. Results from a multinomial probit model on access mode choice for trips between home and a rail station show that younger adults and employed elderly travelers place higher importance on travel time when choosing a mode to access a station compared to non-employed elderly travelers. On the other hand, the built environment and vehicle ownership have a significantly higher influence on access mode choice for elderly compared to younger adult travelers.