Public transit may be a low-cost and environmentally friendly way for older adults to maintain independent mobility as they age, and yet little is known about older adults’ transit travel behaviours or travel satisfaction. To address this research gap, this paper explores older people’s (60+) responses to a travel survey on the Hamilton Street Railway (HSR). Distributed in 2019 to residents of Hamilton, Ontario, 5844 people responded to the survey, 1002 of which were aged 60 years or older. Descriptive statistics were conducted to assess older adults’ responses, as well as to compare these responses to respondents aged 18–59 years. A thematic analysis of responses to an open-ended question was also completed.

The results indicate that older adults are more frequently occasional transit users (monthly, annually) than younger people who more frequently use the bus daily. Older adults are also more satisfied with the transit service than those aged 18–59 years. Older respondents were least satisfied with comfort amenities at bus stops and shelters and bus crowdedness. However, their satisfaction with these aspects of the service is not statistically significantly different from younger adults. From the thematic analysis, the top barrier shared by older adults is related to accessing the transit service. Across older adults, women, employed people, and those without a car or a driver’s license were more likely to be frequent transit riders. Taken together, this paper sheds light on an understudied population’s transit experiences and can be used to inform policy on how to make public transit more age-friendly.

公共交通可能是老年人在变老时保持独立行动能力的一种低成本且环保的方式，但人们对老年人的公交出行行为或出行满意度知之甚少。为了填补这一研究空白，本文探讨了老年人（60 岁以上）对汉密尔顿街铁路 (HSR) 旅行调查的回应。2019 年分发给安大略省汉密尔顿的居民，5844 人回答了调查，其中 1002 人年龄在 60 岁或以上。进行了描述性统计以评估老年人的反应，并将这些反应与 18-59 岁的受访者进行比较。还完成了对一个开放式问题的回答的专题分析。

结果表明，与每天更频繁地乘坐公共汽车的年轻人相比，老年人更频繁地偶尔乘坐公交车（每月、每年）。与 18-59 岁的人相比，老年人对公交服务的满意度也更高。年长的受访者对公交车站和候车亭的舒适设施以及公交车的拥挤程度最不满意。然而，他们对服务这些方面的满意度与年轻人在统计上并无显着差异。从主题分析来看，老年人面临的最大障碍与获得公交服务有关。在老年人中，女性、就业人员以及没有汽车或驾照的人更有可能经常乘坐公共交通工具。综合起来，