Most Canadians want to age in place, but to do so, they need more age-friendly transportation infrastructure.
Transportation is important for everyday activities, as well as maintaining independence and staying connected to the community. Ensuring affordable, accessible and convenient transportation options are available is a core aspect of age-friendly and age-inclusive communities and the latter are priorities for the association and its members. In the 2023 membership engagement survey, 87 per cent of respondents said a national seniors strategy to support better health and quality of life for older adults was important.
Research shows that driving is the primary method of transportation for older adults, especially those living in small and rural areas. A 2017 report by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) notes in Canada, 93 per cent of people aged 65 to 74, 85 per cent of people aged 75 to 84 and 68 per cent of people aged 85 and older have a driver’s licence.
Age-friendly features for older drivers were noted in a 2016 guide by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Ministers Responsible for Seniors Forum on age-friendly rural and remote communities and include good roads, light traffic flow, snow removal and parking, as well as addressing barriers such as accessible parking, traffic issues, lighting and visibility problems.
The 2017 CCA report states that when older Canadians give up driving, the most common reason is a physical condition or deteriorating vision (37 per cent), followed by no longer needing or enjoying driving (20 per cent), and feeling it is no longer safe to do
so (15 per cent).
When someone cannot or chooses not to drive, inclusive accessible alternatives are needed, including public transit systems. However, studies have shown that public transit, where it’s available, is not widely used by older adults. Understanding the barriers to public transit for older adults — and acting upon them — could encourage greater use for those inclined to use it, and support community participation.
A recent research collaboration between the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and Transportation Research at McGill University (TRAM) aimed to explore the travel needs and experiences of older adults. Comprehensive surveys in six major Canadian cities — Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax, Victoria and Saskatoon — provided information about the travel habits of older adults, their level of satisfaction and barriers
to using public transit.
The research found that while each city had its own challenges, they also had commonalities, including:
- Older adults benefit most from transit systems with easily accessible stops, reliable travel times, and routes tailored to their needs.
- Housing affordability plays a bigger role than transit access when it comes to choosing where to live.
- Older adults tend to travel during off-peak hours, when services are often less frequent.
- Perceptions of transit — positive or negative — strongly influence usage, sometimes more than objective accessibility.
This research was supported by the NRC’s Aging in Place Challenge program. The objectives of the program focus on “improving the quality of life of older adults and their personal caregivers through innovation for safe and healthy aging in support of a sustainable model for long-term care that shifts the focus toward preventive home and community-based care.”
Canadians want to age in place, but to do so successfully requires removing barriers, developing the necessary tools and services and designing communities and infrastructure such as transportation in an age-inclusive way. This also requires strong federal leadership.