Senior Citizens in Public Transport in three provinces of the Netherlands
In an ageing society, the support function of public facilities, among which public transport, are increasingly important for senior citizens to live and move around independently. In the Dutch provinces of Zeeland, Brabant and Gelderland, several projects were carried out in order to bring about a positive and efficient development of public transport for senior citizens in an ageing society.
Description
Europe’s society is ageing: in 2025 over 25% of the EU's
population will be over 65 years old. When growing older, handicaps
are becoming more common and therefore the possibility to use
(private) cars is significantly reduced. Public transport can offer
senior citizens, but (mentally) handicapped persons as well, the
possibility to remain mobile, independent citizens.
The interventions that were implemented had various objectives:
- To improve the vicinity and accessibility of public bus stops and vehicles;
- To improve information provision and assistance according to the needs of the target groups;
- To implement and analyse incentives to use public transport
more intensively.
Approach
Improvement of accessibility means that the projects implement measures that result in:
- Improved ‘physical’ accessibility, among which vicinity of public transport, accessibility of bus- stops, accessibility of buses;
- Improved ‘mental’ accessibility, which means an improvement of information- supply about the public transport system.
The primary target groups for the interventions were senior (over
60) citizens and citizens suffering some kind of physical or mental
impairment.
Results
Measures that were implemented have reduced the distance between
bus stops and residences of the target groups, and have improved
the stops themselves and the equipment that is in use. A price
incentive was also implemented: target groups were granted free use
of public transport.
In all, the use of public transport by the target groups has grown
by 25%, while the expensive, subsidized travelling by taxi has been
reduced.
Lessons Learned
The target groups themselves proved to be very heterogeneous,
causing them to have very different physical improvements. The
specific needs of these groups must be analysed beforehand in order
to implement a successful intervention. Additionally, public
transport responsibility in the Netherlands is divided over many
organisations, which renders cooperation challenging.
Publication date
2010
Document Type
Practice Document
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