Using Technological Innovations Across the Megaregion to Enhance the Mobility and Access of Seniors

The population of America, and indeed the entire industrial world, is aging rapidly; by 2020 more than one in five Americans, or 60 million seniors, will be 65 or older (US Census, 2014 a, b). The share of the total population over 65 will be even higher in the Rustbelt and in some cities in the South and West. Today more than three-quarters of those seniors live in low density places even within major metropolitan areas and megaregions (US Census, 2011, 2012); almost all Americans will have been active drivers for decades by the time they turn 65 (US Federal Highway Administration, 2015). Few seniors, however, will have made plans for the time when they want or need to reduce driving and there will be few transportation alternatives widely available when they do. As megaregions grow, many services and facilities to which seniors will wish to travel, and indeed to which they traveled as younger members of the workforce, may continue to disperse. The rapid aging of a population living at low density who have built a life around the mobility offered by the private car is a policy and planning challenge which may be addressed by two additional societal trends: the growth of e-commerce and local delivery of a variety of goods and services, and, the rapid rise in the shared economy, particularly in the transportation sector. The project team will ask the following questions: (1) will home delivery of goods and service will meet some of the needs across a megaregion of seniors reducing or ceasing driving? (2) will the neighborhood delivery of public and private services reduce the need for travel by seniors with decreasing ability to drive? (3) do shared ride platforms provide a realistic mobility option for seniors in suburban and rural areas in megarergions?

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $ 38101
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747135

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  University Transportation Centers Program

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  University Transportation Centers Program

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Stearns, Amy

• Performing Organizations:

  Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)

  University of Texas at Austin
  Austin, TX  United States  78712
• Principal Investigators:

  Rosenbloom, Sandra

• Start Date: 20170501
• Expected Completion Date: 20180531
• Actual Completion Date: 20180531
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Access; Aged; Delivery service; Driving cessation; Electronic commerce; Large cities; Mobility; Networks; Population density; Regions; Ridesharing; Technological innovations
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01651004
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM2)
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747135
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 16 2017 11:14PM