Getting around would be difficult without roads, rail and pedestrian walkways. Despite what we take for granted, the older traveller is often left feeling frustrated by the current transport infrastructure. Based on their research, Dr Greg Marsden et al explore in this article why this is the case, they look at the barriers that prevent older people getting out and about and the considerations when planning transport for the older traveller

Cattan, Mima

Jopson, Ann

Marsden, Greg

Woodward, Jenny

English

Marsden, G

Cattan, M

Jopson, A

Woodward, J

Leeds Beckett Repository

Understanding the older traveller – stop, look and listen!For final published article, please see:http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1936906&show=abstractDr Greg Marsden, Dr Mima Cattan, Dr Ann Jopson, Jenny Woodward“Transport, transport, transport – without that nothing else works”(Consultation respondent, SEU, 2005)A lack of good transport options can be a significant barrier to social inclusion andindependence for older people (SEU, 2005; Maratolli, 2002). Whilst some of theproblems experienced by older travellers are documented (Dunbar, 2004), there are fewpractical tools available to improve the lot of the older traveller. The purpose of theresearch described in this paper was to bring together transport and public health researchin order to demonstrate how the involvement of older people can help improve tools fortransport planning.People and system centred approachesThe study aimed to contrast the current ‘technocratic’ approach to transport planning witha user-centred approach working with older people. This would enable the study toidentify the extent to which current practices were likely to resolve or exacerbate theproblems identified. Transport planning professionals have a duty to develop LocalTransport Plans for their areas. Whilst issues such as tackling congestion and climatechange are important, the plans should also improve access to key services by publictransport, maintain roads and pavements and tackle road safety issues. There does notappear to be a big discrepancy in the overall goals of transport planning and the types ofimprovements that would help older people. The question we sought to address waswhether the planning profession is trained and skilled in understanding the particularneeds of older people and therefore developing balanced plans for improvement.Listening to travel experiencesTen focus groups with a total of 81 participants were held with community-based groupsin a mixture of urban and semi-rural sites between May and July 2006. Access to thegroups was facilitated through the Leeds Older People’s Forum, an umbrellarepresentative group which supports over 116 voluntary sector organisations in the area,and active communication from the research team. The focus groups explored why olderpeople travelled, the best and worst things about travelling, what they avoided doing andwhy and if/how they went about trying to engage to improve the transport system.Older people’s ability to access the external environment had a major impact on theirmental health and was affected by three factors. Firstly, their physical ability, wherevarying degrees of mobility loss through arthritis, visual impairment or hearing problemsmeant that some had very few problems, whilst others had slowed down, experienceddifficulties getting on and off busses, or carrying things."There’s nothing worse for your mental health if you can't get around and see yourremaining friends and families, and ... the outside world.. It’s not a trivial thing”The main policy brief given to professional transport planners is to improve access to keyservices (employment, education, healthcare and supermarkets) by public transport andwalking. The participants indicated that walking served several purposes: to accessservices but also to keep fit and as a way of meeting other people. Shopping similarlyserved multiple purposes: buying goods, giving structure to the day and an opportunity tosocialise. Access to religious centres and parks were also raised as an issue. The lack oftransport, especially in the evenings and Sundays was raised as a problem.Second, there was also a clear range of personal characteristics which impacted on whatwas seen as desirable and feasible for the participants. Psychological factors such asactivity aspirations or fear of having a fall or being mugged were key constraints.Third, the physical environment has a significant impact on travel. Poor design of buses,bus-stops, uneven pavements, poor street lighting and motorists driving too fast weredescribed as hazards in the external environment.For many of the participants just one negative experience, such as a fall, was sufficient tostop them getting into that situation again, resulting in reduced mobility and socialcontacts. The fear of being knocked or having a fall (including on public transport) was amajor issue for frail participants. They dealt with this by not going out or taking lengthydetours around areas with perceived hazards such as large crowds.In all, participants felt ignored by transport planners and whilst some, the ‘involved’ triedto influence their environment, the majority were either resigned (resigned acceptors) to‘the way things are’ or felt frustrated (frustrated acceptors) but unable to influencechange.Experiencing daily issuesTo find out more about the difficulties that older people encounter when navigating theirlocal streets the study team arranged to take a walk with six of the participants from thefocus groups. Walks were taken to commonly accessed destinations such as the local highstreet and the purpose was to observe and discuss any difficulties they experienced en-route. Some of the people that agreed to take part wondered why we wanted to go for awalk with them as they ‘didn’t experience any difficulties’ when out and about. Once onthe walk however, it became apparent that problems did exist but that coping strategieshad been developed.Crossing roads was a significant issue. It became apparent when crossing junctions (withno pedestrian crossing facilities) that whilst younger people can speed up to cross quicklyolder people often cannot, leaving them exposed to traffic. Where crossings facilitiesexisted, green light timing for pedestrians being too short was a problem, particularlybeing in the middle of the road, with no central reservation the traffic lights go green wasvery frightening“you really take your life in your hands trying to cross”There were many informal and sometimes illegal uses of pavement space. Theseimpaired progress, and presented a safety hazard. Pavements were used as a car park, abicycle lane, or bicycle park, a place to keep domestic waste bins, a dog toilet, a gardenextension (overgrown hedges) or place for the hedge clippings – see Figure 1.© ITS, University of Leeds, 2006Figure 1: Uses for pavement spacePavement maintenance was also problematic with many cracked and uneven pavementsin the local neighbourhoods. Some participants indicated that tactile paving (bumpypanels near crossings installed for partially sighted pedestrians) was painful to walk on tothe extent people walked around it. A solution to this is not clear since tactile pavingprovides accessibility for others, and all volunteers acknowledged this. Indeed thevolunteers were very pragmatic about the fact that the built environment needs to caterfor everybody’s needs, not just theirs.Positive attributes of pedestrian environments favoured by the volunteers includedpedestrian only routes, benches to provide rest stops, and local authority re-surfacingprogrammes (i.e., smooth pavements).Planning ApproachesThrough interviews and participation in dissemination seminars of local transport co-ordinating bodies and bus companies we saw a willingness to take older people’s viewsinto account as a ‘core market’ for public transport. There was however, littleunderstanding of the specific needs of older people and surprise about the extent to whichdecisions which seemed logical could cause problems for older people. The fragmentedstructure of the bus industry meant that it was very difficult for older people to influencechange, including not knowing who to write to or ring. A solution for Leeds has been toconnect the bus companies, local authorities and transport co-ordinating body to theLeeds Older People’s Forum as a means of getting messages out and receiving feedback,directly and through word of mouth.The situation on local road maintenance and pedestrian crossings was somewhatdifferent. All complaints about safety issues crossing roads are now logged and have tobe examined. The ‘involved’ therefore may be heard by planners, but not the resignedacceptors or the frustrated acceptors as they are not likely to make complaints, and theseare the target groups that are most disadvantaged by poor provision. There is however nospecific design guidance to improve crossings for older people and little awareness of theneeds and capabilities of users. Our experiences suggest that when audits of streets andcrossings are conducted then these would best be conducted with local older users. Thereis a clear need for some form of professional training in appreciating the needs of olderpedestrians.ConclusionTransport is a critical link in the maintenance of day to day independent living. Whilstmany older people continue to drive and be able to take advantage of the new free bustravel initiatives the less mobile and less secure suffer significantly from badinfrastructure, poor planning and patchy customer service. There is a lack of awarenessamongst the transport profession of the real experiences of older travellers yet there is awillingness to learn. It is suggested that improvements in the relationship between localcommunity groups and other advocates and the local authorities and bus companieswould be a helpful first step to getting these issues on the map. Improvements that workfor older people will benefit almost everyone using the transport system.ReferencesDunbar, G., Holland, C.A. and Maylor, E.A. (2004) Older Pedestrians: A Critical Reviewof the Literature, Road Safety Research Report No 37, London: Department for Transport[online]http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_030574.pdf (March 2006).Maratolli R (2002), Health Issues for Older Road Users, Proc. Mobility & Safety of OlderPeople Conference, Melbourne, 26-27 August 2002.Social Exclusion Unit (SEU; 2005), Excluded Older People, Social Exclusion UnitInterim Report, London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.Authors:Dr Greg Marsden is a Senior Lecturer in Transport Policy and Strategy at the Institute forTransport Studies, University of LeedsDr Mima Cattan is a Reader in Health Promotion (Healthy Ageing) at the Centre forHealth Promotion Research, Leeds Metropolitan UniversityDr Ann Jopson is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Transport Studies, University ofLeedsJenny Woodward was a researcher at the Centre for Health Promotion Research, LeedsMetropolitan University

Health Issues for Older Road Users,

Older Pedestrians: A Critical Review of the Literature, Road Safety Research Report No 37, London: Department for Transport [online] http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_030574. pdf

Understanding the older traveller - stop, look and listen!

White Rose Research Online

Understanding the older traveller: stop, look and listen!

Northumbria University Research Portal

Understanding the older traveller – stop, look and listen!  Dr Greg Marsden, Dr Mima Cattan, Dr Ann Jopson, Jenny Woodward  “Transport, transport, transport – without that nothing else works” (Consultation respondent, SEU, 2005)  A lack of good transport options can be a significant barrier to social inclusion and independence for older people (SEU, 2005; Maratolli, 2002). Whilst some of the problems experienced by older travellers are documented (Dunbar, 2004), there are few practical tools available to improve the lot of the older traveller. The purpose of the research described in this paper was to bring together transport and public health research in order to demonstrate how the involvement of older people can help improve tools for transport planning.  People and system centred approaches The study aimed to contrast the current „technocratic‟ approach to transport planning with a user-centred approach working with older people. This would enable the study to identify the extent to which current practices were likely to resolve or exacerbate the problems identified. Transport planning professionals have a duty to develop Local Transport Plans for their areas. Whilst issues such as tackling congestion and climate change are important, the plans should also improve access to key services by public transport, maintain roads and pavements and tackle road safety issues. There does not appear to be a big discrepancy in the overall goals of transport planning and the types of improvements that would help older people. The question we sought to address was whether the planning profession is trained and skilled in understanding the particular needs of older people and therefore developing balanced plans for improvement.  Listening to travel experiences Ten focus groups with a total of 81 participants were held with community-based groups in a mixture of urban and semi-rural sites between May and July 2006. Access to the groups was facilitated through the Leeds Older People‟s Forum, an umbrella representative group which supports over 116 voluntary sector organisations in the area, and active communication from the research team. The focus groups explored why older people travelled, the best and worst things about travelling, what they avoided doing and why and if/how they went about trying to engage to improve the transport system.  Older people‟s ability to access the external environment had a major impact on their mental health and was affected by three factors. Firstly, their physical ability, where varying degrees of mobility loss through arthritis, visual impairment or hearing problems meant that some had very few problems, whilst others had slowed down, experienced difficulties getting on and off busses, or carrying things.    "There’s nothing worse for your mental health if you can't get around and see your remaining friends and families, and ... the outside world.. It’s not a trivial thing”  The main policy brief given to professional transport planners is to improve access to key services (employment, education, healthcare and supermarkets) by public transport and walking. The participants indicated that walking served several purposes: to access services but also to keep fit and as a way of meeting other people. Shopping similarly served multiple purposes: buying goods, giving structure to the day and an opportunity to socialise. Access to religious centres and parks were also raised as an issue. The lack of transport, especially in the evenings and Sundays was raised as a problem.  Second, there was also a clear range of personal characteristics which impacted on what was seen as desirable and feasible for the participants. Psychological factors such as activity aspirations or fear of having a fall or being mugged were key constraints.  Third, the physical environment has a significant impact on travel. Poor design of buses, bus-stops, uneven pavements, poor street lighting and motorists driving too fast were described as hazards in the external environment.   For many of the participants just one negative experience, such as a fall, was sufficient to stop them getting into that situation again, resulting in reduced mobility and social contacts. The fear of being knocked or having a fall (including on public transport) was a major issue for frail participants. They dealt with this by not going out or taking lengthy detours around areas with perceived hazards such as large crowds.   In all, participants felt ignored by transport planners and whilst some, the „involved‟ tried to influence their environment, the majority were either resigned (resigned acceptors) to „the way things are‟ or felt frustrated (frustrated acceptors) but unable to influence change.  Experiencing daily issues To find out more about the difficulties that older people encounter when navigating their local streets the study team arranged to take a walk with six of the participants from the focus groups. Walks were taken to commonly accessed destinations such as the local high street and the purpose was to observe and discuss any difficulties they experienced en-route. Some of the people that agreed to take part wondered why we wanted to go for a walk with them as they „didn‟t experience any difficulties‟ when out and about. Once on the walk however, it became apparent that problems did exist but that coping strategies had been developed.  Crossing roads was a significant issue. It became apparent when crossing junctions (with no pedestrian crossing facilities) that whilst younger people can speed up to cross quickly older people often cannot, leaving them exposed to traffic.  Where crossings facilities existed, green light timing for pedestrians being too short was a problem, particularly being in the middle of the road, with no central reservation the traffic lights go green was very frightening  “you really take your life in your hands trying to cross”   There were many informal and sometimes illegal uses of pavement space. These impaired progress, and presented a safety hazard. Pavements were used as a car park, a bicycle lane, or bicycle park, a place to keep domestic waste bins, a dog toilet, a garden extension (overgrown hedges) or place for the hedge clippings – see Figure 1.               © ITS, University of Leeds, 2006               Figure 1:  Uses for pavement space  Pavement maintenance was also problematic with many cracked and uneven pavements in the local neighbourhoods. Some participants indicated that tactile paving (bumpy panels near crossings installed for partially sighted pedestrians) was painful to walk on to the extent people walked around it. A solution to this is not clear since tactile paving provides accessibility for others, and all volunteers acknowledged this. Indeed the volunteers were very pragmatic about the fact that the built environment needs to cater for everybody‟s needs, not just theirs.   Positive attributes of pedestrian environments favoured by the volunteers included pedestrian only routes, benches to provide rest stops, and local authority re-surfacing programmes (i.e., smooth pavements).  Planning Approaches Through interviews and participation in dissemination seminars of local transport co-ordinating bodies and bus companies we saw a willingness to take older people‟s views into account as a „core market‟ for public transport. There was however, little understanding of the specific needs of older people and surprise about the extent to which decisions which seemed logical could cause problems for older people. The fragmented structure of the bus industry meant that it was very difficult for older people to influence change, including not knowing who to write to or ring. A solution for Leeds has been to connect the bus companies, local authorities and transport co-ordinating body to the Leeds Older People‟s Forum as a means of getting messages out and receiving feedback, directly and through word of mouth.  The situation on local road maintenance and pedestrian crossings was somewhat different. All complaints about safety issues crossing roads are now logged and have to be examined. The „involved‟ therefore may be heard by planners, but not the resigned acceptors or the frustrated acceptors as they are not likely to make complaints, and these are the target groups that are most disadvantaged by poor provision. There is however no specific design guidance to improve crossings for older people and little awareness of the needs and capabilities of users. Our experiences suggest that when audits of streets and crossings are conducted then these would best be conducted with local older users. There is a clear need for some form of professional training in appreciating the needs of older pedestrians.  Conclusion Transport is a critical link in the maintenance of day to day independent living. Whilst many older people continue to drive and be able to take advantage of the new free bus travel initiatives the less mobile and less secure suffer significantly from bad infrastructure, poor planning and patchy customer service. There is a lack of awareness amongst the transport profession of the real experiences of older travellers yet there is a willingness to learn. It is suggested that improvements in the relationship between local community groups and other advocates and the local authorities and bus companies would be a helpful first step to getting these issues on the map. Improvements that work for older people will benefit almost everyone using the transport system.  References Dunbar, G., Holland, C.A. and Maylor, E.A. (2004) Older Pedestrians: A Critical Review of the Literature, Road Safety Research Report No 37, London: Department for Transport [online] http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_rdsafety/documents/page/dft_rdsafety_030574.pdf (March 2006).  Maratolli R (2002), Health Issues for Older Road Users, Proc. Mobility & Safety of Older People Conference, Melbourne, 26-27 August 2002.  Social Exclusion Unit (SEU; 2005), Excluded Older People, Social Exclusion Unit Interim Report, London: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Authors:  Dr Greg Marsden is a Senior Lecturer in Transport Policy and Strategy at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds Dr Mima Cattan is a Reader in Health Promotion (Healthy Ageing) at the Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds Metropolitan University Dr Ann Jopson is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds Jenny Woodward was a researcher at the Centre for Health Promotion Research, Leeds Metropolitan University 

Getting around would be difficult without roads, rail and pedestrian walkways. Despite what we take for granted, the older traveller is often left feeling frustrated by the current transport infrastructure. Based on their research, Dr Greg Marsden et al explore in this article why this is the case, they look at the barriers that prevent older people getting out and about and the considerations when planning transport for the older traveller.</jats:p

Greg Marsden

Mima Cattan

Ann Jopson

Jenny Woodward

Crossref

Working with Older People

http://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/524/1/Understanding%20the%20older%20traveller%20-%20stop%20look%20and%20listen_with_coversheet.pdf

Understanding the older traveller: stop, look and listen!

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