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.
Downloads
WISPIRG
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.