Here resides Hayden's Spring 2024 review of Transit Agency Policies for Elderly Travel within Public Transit Planning and Operations in collaboration with his project team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
As people age, their perception-reaction time naturally declines, posing safety concerns while operating a motor vehicle and leading to an increased opportunity for public transit use. The elderly population, defined as age 65 or above, continues to grow as the Baby Boomer generation ages, resulting in the need for transit agencies to consider policies and practices that accommodate seniors. This research conducted a multiple case study analysis using publicly available documents to qualitatively compare five of the largest transit agencies in the United States. Given seniors’ unique financial and mobility needs, the case studies focused on two types of policies: (1) fare policies and (2) accessibility policies. The results of the case studies revealed that the five transit agencies had similar but slightly different fare policies aimed at keeping prices low for seniors. For example, one of the five agencies (LA Metro) exceeded the Federal Transit Administration’s fare minimums of 50% off non-peak trips by offering 80% off fares to seniors, and two of the agencies (LA Metro and CTA) allow low-income seniors to ride for free. The results also showed that accessibility policies, which are typically aimed to address the mobility needs of those born with disabilities as well as disabilities acquired due to aging, varied in their implementation across agencies. For example, all five agencies provided fully accessible bus vehicles, whereas only one had fully accessible rail stations. These findings are useful to transit agencies and policymakers to help ensure affordable and accessible transportation for the seniors.