Older people and mobile lives

Timeline: November 2014 – October 2016

Our team includes: Rosie Day, Russell Hitchings, Julia Hibbert, Sue Venn

Some of our key questions include:

  • How are patterns of post-retirement mobility are evolving?
  • What is leading to the changes in mobility of older people?
  • How increased travel demand might be managed without compromising social and cultural benefits?

And these are some of the ideas we are engaging with:

Rosie Day explains how this project is interested in the changing dynamics of older people’s travel:

Russell Hitchings explains their interest in changing understandings of older people’s travel:

Mobility amongst older people constitutes a significant and growing area of demand. The population is ageing and on average health and life expectancy on retirement has increased.  Older people are making more long distance trips than ever before and there is evidence that travel is a major aspiration for those who retire. Mobility is often encouraged as a means of ensuring wellbeing and combating social isolation, various policies have facilitated cheap bus journeys and there is a significant market in organised holidays for older people. This project is designed to explain how this ‘new’ area of demand has been built, how it is changing, and to identify points of potential intervention within the systems of provision involved.

For more detailed information about how the project fits into the Demand Research Programme you can read the 13-page DEMAND research summary.