Travel behavior of low income older adults and implementation of an accessibility calculator.
Given the aging demographic landscape, the concept of walkable neighborhoods has emerged as a topic of interest, especially during the last decade. However, we know very little about whether walkable neighborhoods promote walking among older adults, particularly those with lower incomes. Therefore in this paper we: (i) examine the relation between trip distance and sociodemographic attributes and accessibility features of lower income older adults in Metro Vancouver; and, (ii) implement a web-based application to calculate the accessibility of lower income older adults in Metro Vancouver based on their travel behavior. We use multilevel linear regression to estimate the determinants of trip length. We find that in this population distance traveled is associated with gender, living arrangements, and dog ownership. Furthermore, significant geographical variations (measured using a trend surface) were also found. To better visualize the impact of travel behavior on accessibility by personal profile and location, we also implemented a web-based calculator that generates an Accessibility (A)-score using Google Maps API v3 that can be used to evaluate the accessibility of neighborhoods from the perspective of older adults.
Business School (M261), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
Md
M
Moniruzzaman
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, University of British Columbia, 7/F, 2635 Laurel Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 1M9.
Anna
A
Chudyk
School of Geography and Earth Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, GSB-206, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1.
Antonio
A
Páez
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Blusson Hall, Room 11300, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6.
Meghan
M
Winters
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, University of British Columbia, 7/F, 2635 Laurel Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 1M9.
Joanie
J
Sims-Gould
Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, University of British Columbia, 7/F, 2635 Laurel Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Z 1M9.
Heather
H
McKay
Accessibility; Multilevel; Trip distance; Walkability; Web application