Accessibility and Essential Travel: Public Transport Reliance Among Senior Citizens During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Using smart card travel data, we compare demand for bus services by passengers of age 65 or older prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify public transport-reliant users residing in more car-dependent environments—i.e., people who rely on public transport services to carry out essential activities, such as daily shopping and live in areas with low public transport accessibility. Viewing lockdowns as natural experiments, we use spatial analysis combined with multilevel logistic regressions to characterize the demographic and geographic context of those passengers who continued to use public transport services in these areas during lockdown periods, or quickly returned to public transport when restrictions were eased. We find that this particular type of public transport reliance is significantly associated with socio-demographic characteristics alongside urban residential conditions. Specifically, we identify suburban geographies of public transport reliance, which are at risk of being overlooked in approaches that view public transport dependence mainly as an outcome of deprivation. Our research demonstrates once again that inclusive, healthy and sustainable mobility can only be achieved if all areas of metropolitan regions are well and reliably served by public transport.