Mobility and transportation service requirements change with growing age. Also in a car-based society like Germany many seniors need to give up driving the car and are dependent on relatives or public transport. Especially in rural areas, the accessibility of public transport is often limited. Demand responsive transportation has occasionally been proposed by researchers as a viable alternative to stop-, route- and time-based public transportation to address such problems. This case study analyses passenger data from the true DRT system EcoBus to identify distinct drivers of old passengers’ satisfaction compared to other passengers. Contrary to existing literature, older people stated to be even more satisfied with the service then younger travellers did. Moreover, older travellers tend to travel alone, but showed slightly higher satisfaction when travelling in groups. The results suggest that older people might be more open-minded and positive regarding flexible public transport schemes than expected.

移动性和运输服务要求随着年龄的增长而变化。同样在德国这样一个以汽车为基础的社会中，许多老年人需要放弃开车，依赖亲戚或公共交通工具。尤其是在农村地区，公共交通的可达性往往是有限的。研究人员偶尔会提出需求响应交通作为基于站点、路线和时间的公共交通的可行替代方案，以解决此类问题。本案例研究分析了来自真正的 DRT 系统 EcoBus 的乘客数据，以确定与其他乘客相比，老乘客满意度的不同驱动因素。与现有文献相反，老年人表示对服务的满意度甚至高于年轻旅客。此外，年长的旅行者倾向于独自旅行，但在团体旅行时表现出略高的满意度。结果表明，老年人在灵活的公共交通计划方面可能比预期的更加开放和积极。