Title

Attitudes towards public transport among elderly in a sparsely populated municipality

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2007

Subject Area

Location - Europe, Location - Rural, Modes of Transport - Bus, Population - Elderly

Abstract

In sparsely populated areas alternatives to travel by private car is limited to a public transport service with few options. People in sparsely populated areas also have fairly little experience of travelling by public transport and generally do not consider public transport as an alternative travel mode. In sparsely populated areas many elderly inhabitants that no longer drive (or do not have a driving license) are referred to special transport services, even though they could manage (some) travel by public transport - if it would be a realistic option. This study was carried out in Pajala, a vast and sparsely populated municipality (less than 1 inhabitant per km2) in the northeast of Sweden. Approximately 6800 people live in the municipality. 2100 live in the central town of Pajala where also most of the services that cover the every day needs of the population are located. Most of the other 4700 live in one of the 80 villages that surround the central town. The village of Korpilombolo, with its 550 inhabitants, is one of the larger villages in the municipality about 50 km southwest of the town of Pajala. There is a grocery shop, a hairdresser and a gasoline station in Korpilombolo, bur medical care, the pharmacy and other municipal services like the social insurance office can only be found in town. Quite contrary to the development of public transport in many other sparsely populated areas in Sweden the public transport services in Pajala municipality was increased in 2005 and 2006 by improving the bus service between the town of Pajala and Korpilombolo village. This was done within the cost of the existing service apart from the extra fuel cost by reorganising the use of existing resources. In 2005 a questionnaire survey on attitudes toward public transport among people in sparsely populated areas was carried out in Korpilombolo. In 2006 some of the survey findings were followed up with an interview study focused on the experiences of public transport and the attitudes toward public transport among the elderly in Korpilombolo. This was done because Pajala municipality has an overrepresentation of elderly among its inhabitants. 29 % of the population is over the age of 65 compared to 17 % in Sweden as a whole and the number of elderly is expected to increase in the future. This also means that the cost for special transportation services will increase. However, if public transport conforms to the needs and expectations of the elderly the need of special transportation services might not increase as much as expected. The results of the study among the elderly are that they are positive toward public transport but regard it as more important for the village than as a real travel option in their everyday life. Their attitudes toward travel by public transport are based on longer, leisure oriented trips.