Aging in Place, Stuck Without Options

Fixing the Mobility Crisis Threatening the Baby Boom Generation

The first baby boomers turn 65 years old this year and seniors in eight Wisconsin metro areas are in danger of being unable to get around. The largest generation in history, Boomers are also the most dependent on automobile travel. Yet by 2015, more than half of seniors ages 65 and older in these eight Wisconsin cities will live in communities with poor options for people who do not drive, according to a new report.

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Executive Summary

The baby boom generation is the largest in U.S.
history, with more than 77 million people born
between 1946 and 1964. Baby boomers are
also unique because they came of age during the
unprecedented economic expansion that followed
World War II, which helped fuel the rise of new
suburban communities and increased reliance on
the automobile. At the same time, the Federal
Government initiated the largest infrastructure
project in U.S. history with the construction
of the Interstate Highway system. Whereas
previous generations tended to live in close
proximity to employment centers, new suburban
housing developments required frequent, long-distance
trips by automobile. With the support of
substantial federal funding, metropolitan regions
developed vast road networks to connect people
to employment, health care, recreation and friends
and family. Automobiles became an essential
component of daily life as opposed to a luxury.

Only a small percentage of Americans move after
they reach retirement age, according to demographic
researchers, meaning most will “age in place” in
neighborhoods where daily activities require
frequent car trips. With rising life expectancies,
America’s largest generation will also be the oldest
ever. Inevitably, aging experts note, a large share
will find that their ability to navigate by vehicle
diminishes or disappears over time. These millions
of older adults will need affordable alternatives to driving in order to maintain their independence as long as possible.

Many seniors will rely on relatives or friends to
take them around, and a smaller number will move
to places where services and activities are close by.
Pedestrian-friendly streets and recreational trails
built with seniors in mind will help older Americans
get around safely and remain active, regardless
of where they live. But only adequate public
transportation services can assure that older adults
are able to travel as often or as far as they would like,
without worrying about inconveniencing others.

Absent access to affordable travel options, seniors
face isolation, a reduced quality of life and possible
economic hardship. A 2004 study found that
seniors age 65 and older who no longer drive make
15 percent fewer trips to the doctor, 59 percent
fewer trips to shop or eat out, and 65 percent fewer
trips to visit friends and family, than drivers of the
same age.2 A 2002 study in the American Journal
of Public Health found that men in their early 70s
who stop driving will need access to transportation
alternatives, such as public transportation, for an
average of six years; women in the same age group
will, on average, need transportation alternatives for
ten years.3 A 2008 survey by AARP found that 85
percent of older Americans were either extremely concerned or very concerned about rising fuel
prices, leading many to look toward other forms of
transportation or to reduce their travel.

Whether seniors have access to transportation
options depends both on where in the country
they live, as well as where they reside within
a metropolitan region. To gauge the emerging
transportation issues for aging Americans,
Transportation for America commissioned the
Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) to
analyze the adequacy of public transportation
service for 241 metropolitan areas with a population
of 65,000 or more (See the methodological
appendix for a complete list of those metro areas
where digitized transit data was not available at
the time of the study). The analysis considered
the total number of public transit lines and stops
– bus routes and rail and ferry stations – in a given
location, as well as the number of seniors living in
that area in 2000, and their likely numbers in 2015.
Within the communities examined in this report
more than 11.5 million Americans 65 and older
lived with “poor” transit access in 2000. If most
seniors get their wish to “age in place,” by 2015,
our analysis shows that this figure will increase to
more than 15.5 million older Americans, meaning
a substantial majority of that population will be
faced with declining mobility options. We do not
make specific projections beyond 2015, because
they are less likely to be accurate. However, the
aging in place phenomenon will continue until well
beyond 2030, when the last baby boomer turns 65.5

The demographic shifts taking place in America
are unprecedented. In a 2003 study, Sandra
Rosenbloom of the Brookings Institution, found
that 79 percent of seniors age 65 and older live in
car-dependent suburban and rural communities.6
The growth in automobile-reliant suburban areas
has been supported and encouraged in large measure
by Federal investments, programs and regulations
over the last several decades. The sheer scale of the
transportation challenges presented by the aging of
our largest demographic cohort requires a national
response, particularly given the fiscal constraints
facing local communities. Federal leadership and investment in a variety of transportation projects and programs will be essential to help communities
provide for the mobility needs of an aging America.

The current drafting of the next transportation bill
provides Congress an historic opportunity to ensure
that older Americans are not stranded without
adequate and affordable travel options. As Congress
rewrites and updates surface transportation
programs this year, decision-makers should ensure
the legislation includes the following:

• Increased dedicated funding for a variety
of forms of public transportation such as
buses, trains, vanpools, specialized transit and
ridesharing – including support for operations
and maintenance for services essential to
seniors in both urban and rural areas.

• Transit should continue to receive funding
from federal motor fuel receipts deposited
into the Highway Trust Fund, and public
transportation should receive a fair share of any
new revenues.

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