Mobility Patterns and Accessibility for Older Adults
Summary
As populations age worldwide, understanding the travel behaviours and access needs of older adults has become a priority for urban planners, public health officials and transport operators. Ageing often brings physiological and cognitive changes that influence trip frequency, choice of transport modes and perceptions of safety and comfort. While many older people aspire to maintain independence through driving, trends reveal growing interest in public and active transport as strategies to sustain social participation and physical wellbeing. Inequities in the built environment, gaps in service provision and varying levels of affordability all shape mobility patterns and can exacerbate social exclusion when not addressed. Research highlights the importance of age-friendly solutions that combine infrastructure design, flexible services and technology to create seamless door-to-door journeys. At a global level, integrating the voices of older users into policy and planning processes has proven essential to developing equitable and sustainable transport systems that support healthy ageing in diverse urban and rural contexts.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Mobility Patterns and Accessibility for Older Adults publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in mobility patterns and accessibility for older adults across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Accessibility: The ease with which individuals can reach desired services and activities using the transport network, commonly quantified by travel time or distance to key destinations.
Transport mode choice: The decision process by which travellers select among available options—such as private car, public transport, walking or cycling—based on factors like cost, convenience and personal ability.
Active ageing: A policy framework and public health concept promoting continued participation in social, economic, cultural and civic affairs to enhance quality of life as people grow older.
Demand-responsive transport: Flexible, often on-request services that adapt routes or schedules to meet user needs, offering an alternative to fixed-route public transport in low-density areas.
References
- To drive or not to drive: Driving cessation amongst older adults in rural and small towns in Canada. Journal of Transport Geography (2020).
- Transport and Mobility Needs for an Ageing Society from a Policy Perspective: Review and Implications. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2021).
- Accessibility by public transport for older adults: A systematic review. Journal of Transport Geography (2022).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.