Background and aims

To increase the older adults' mobility during the COVID-19 outbreak, providing appropriate conditions for using different transportation modes and organizing transportation facilities for the older adults are essential. Hence, this study aims to evaluate and compare factors affecting the older adults’ travel mode choice to investigate transportation policies for increasing their independent mobility in the post-outbreak that has not been addressed in previous research.

Methodology

The population of this cross-sectional study consisted of Isfahan citizens aged 60 years and over. For interviews based on a structured questionnaire, 453 participants were randomly selected in 15 municipality districts of Isfahan. Multinomial logistic models were used to analyze the data.

Findings

The results show that despite the decrease in the average frequency of travels per week, the increase in the share of walking and cycling modes, making shopping and recreational travels on foot, and cycling can indicate the resilience of walking and cycling in critical situations. The results also reveal that active modes have effective roles in the older adults’ mobility in the post-outbreak because they are not subject to traffic restrictions like private vehicles and social constraints and crowd avoidance like public transportation.

Discussion and conclusion

Policies such as the proper location of facilities, increasing density and mixing of land uses, landscaping, traffic reduction, increasing ownership of bicycle and tricycle (to eliminate the problems of falling in getting on and off the bicycles), driving training courses for the safe driving, and intersections safety improvement are essential to maintain the older adults' mobility after the outbreak. With more capacity and low occupancy, the public transportation system, high-quality accessibility, and safe routes will also attract the older adults’ travels in the crisis.

中文翻译：

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评估 COVID-19 爆发对老年人出行方式选择的影响

背景和目标

为了在 COVID-19 爆发期间增加老年人的活动能力，为老年人使用不同的交通方式和组织交通设施提供适当的条件至关重要。因此，本研究旨在评估和比较影响老年人出行方式选择的因素，以调查在疫情爆发后增加老年人独立行动能力的交通政策，这在以前的研究中没有得到解决。

方法

这项横断面研究的人群包括 60 岁及以上的伊斯法罕市民。对于基于结构化问卷的访谈，在伊斯法罕的 15 个市辖区随机抽取了 453 名参与者。多项逻辑模型用于分析数据。

发现

结果表明，尽管每周的平均出行频率有所下降，但步行和骑自行车的方式、步行购物和休闲旅行以及骑自行车的比例增加，可以表明步行和骑自行车在危急情况下的恢复能力。结果还表明，主动模式对疫情爆发后老年人的流动性具有有效作用，因为他们不受私家车等交通限制和公共交通等社会约束和人群规避的影响。

讨论与结论

设施合理选址、增加土地利用密度和混合、景观美化、减少交通、增加自行车和三轮车保有量（消除上下车摔倒问题）、安全驾驶培训课程等政策驾驶和十字路口的安全改善对于在疫情爆发后保持老年人的行动能力至关重要。更大的运力和更低的入住率，公共交通系统、优质的可达性和安全的路线也将吸引危机中的老年人出行。