The future of transport for the elderly
The EU-funded 'Transport needs for an ageing society' (TRACY) project aims to present a complete picture and evaluation of present national strategies and policies dealing with this issue, while also identifying research gaps and making recommendations for the future. But first, a comprehensive study is needed to establish an overview of policies and practical issues relating to transport needs for the elderly. This requires data from countries under consideration for the project: 27 European Union Member States, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America. The analysis is structured around themes that address technical issues, including safety, infrastructure needs and transport systems, and human factors like gender, special needs and human-machine interfaces. It also considers diversity, incorporating cultural, welfare, political, geographical and regional differences, and alternative approaches such as accessibility, virtual mobility and mobile services. The report gives insights into the demographic trends and it forecasts and summarises key transport characteristics. In addition, populations in the majority of the countries were found to be ageing, which signals the need for change in the demands placed on the transport system. It also highlighted the countries where car dependency is more prevalent. Current literature relevant to older people and transport was also reviewed for the positives and negatives of each mode of transport from different perspectives. This research will provide an invaluable resource for the next stage of the project, which requires a more detailed analysis of the policies and programmes already identified, but on a much broader scale. These include virtual mobile services, road safety, development planning and research into demographic change. these aspects will be considered when looking at the social, economic and environmental impacts. It will present a comprehensive overview of how effective current policies are and for identifying the research gaps. following on from this, an action plan will be developed along with guidelines on current policy and practice in relation to transport and mobility needs for an ageing society.