Older Transit Workers and Managing Healthcare Costs

The nation's population is aging. The once perpetually youthful baby boomers, born between 1946-1964, are now turning 60 one every seven seconds. While the aging of this population is affecting the planning and safety of the transportation enterprise, it is also dramatically affecting the system's workforce. As the transportation workforce ages, chronic disease becomes more prevalent. Many Americans over age 40 manage at least one or more conditions. Diabetes, hypertension, obesity and related metabolic disorders are driving dramatic increases in healthcare costs to public and private transportation organizations. In addition to insurance costs, lost productivity and potential safety issues are some of the potential implications of chronic disease in an older transportation workforce. This is the first of a larger phased study on the 'new older mobile workforce' examining the impact of age, chronic disease on the operations, costs and productivity of public and private operators. This first phase will examine public transportation workers with a focus on public bus drivers and rail engineers. Using interviews, secondary data sources and a workshop, this study will characterize both the size, costs and current strategies used by public transportation properties to manage chronic disease in an older transit workforce.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $78832.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRS99-G-0001

  MITR19-2

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  Department of Transportation
  1200 New Jersey Avneue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  New England University Transportation Center

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 40-279
  Cambridge, MA  United States  01239
• Principal Investigators:

  Coughlin, Joseph

• Start Date: 20060901
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20070831
• Source Data: RiP Project 19614

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Bus transit; Health care facilities; Public transit; Research projects; Transit operating agencies; Transit operators
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01459744
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: New England University Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: DTRS99-G-0001, MITR19-2
• Files: UTC, RiP, USDOT
• Created Date: Jan 3 2013 1:11PM