Department of Traffic Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
School of Rail Transportation, Soochow University, Soochow, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2024 Jan 1;79(1). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbad135.
Rural older adults who require transportation assistance face more challenges than their urban counterparts. By focusing on a historically underserved population, this study examined specific barriers from the perspective of older adult users and explored potential policy and technology solutions.
A cross-sectional study was conducted throughout rural Wisconsin to identify specific barriers to transportation, uncover personal factors associated with identified barriers, and measure causal relationships between identified barriers and travel satisfaction.
A total of 580 older adult respondents from 92% of rural counties across the state provided clear answers regarding specific transportation barriers. Of these, 67.6% identified at least one barrier, but only 12.8% had stopped using transportation due to any identified barriers. Top barriers to accessing transportation included service hours, service areas, trip destinations, getting in/out of service vehicles, service reservations, and operational scheduling. Although specific barriers were associated with different sociodemographics, trip purposes, and frequency of transportation usage, logistic regression findings suggested that concerns about service hours, service areas, and service reservation were the only 3 major determinants driving rural older adults' attitudes toward transportation usage.
Rural older adults relying on transportation assistance have demonstrated diverse needs and constraints. Rural transportation could provide better support by extending service availability in terms of hours, areas, and destinations, improving door-to-door accessibility by providing "arm through arm" services, enhancing service responsiveness and reliability via age-friendly technology solutions, and implementing a sliding scale subsidy program that takes income level and trip frequency into account.
需要交通协助的农村老年群体比城市老年群体面临更多挑战。本研究聚焦于服务不足的历史群体，从老年用户的角度探讨了具体障碍，并探讨了潜在的政策和技术解决方案。
在整个威斯康星州农村地区进行了一项横断面研究，以确定交通方面的具体障碍，揭示与确定障碍相关的个人因素，并衡量确定障碍与出行满意度之间的因果关系。
全州 92%的农村县共有 580 名老年受访者明确回答了具体交通障碍问题。其中，67.6%的人确定了至少一个障碍，但只有 12.8%的人因任何确定的障碍而停止使用交通。获取交通的主要障碍包括服务时间、服务区域、出行目的地、上下服务车辆、服务预订和运营调度。尽管具体障碍与不同的社会人口统计学、出行目的和交通使用频率有关，但逻辑回归结果表明，对服务时间、服务区域和服务预订的担忧是仅有的 3 个主要决定因素，影响了农村老年群体对交通使用的态度。
依赖交通协助的农村老年群体表现出多样化的需求和限制。农村交通可以通过延长服务时间、扩大服务区域和增加服务目的地来提供更好的支持，通过提供“臂挽臂”服务来提高门到门的可达性，通过友好型技术解决方案提高服务响应性和可靠性，并实施考虑收入水平和出行频率的滑动比例补贴计划。
