Baby boomers’ mobility patterns and preferences. What are the implications for future transport? (abstract)

The demographic grand challenge of population ageing will be reflected on most of the areas of society, and to a great extent also on the area of transportation. The large post-II world war cohorts, the so called baby boomers, will comprise a large share of tomorrows older population, and it is expected that they will differ from their parents’ generation when growing old. In order to understand how the aging boomers may impact the future travel demand, their travel behaviour and expectations were analysed based on 1772 standardized telephone interviews. Baby boomers reported in general being healthy, independent and highly (auto)mobile. They also showed optimism regarding the level of mobility, use of different transport modes, and leading an independent life in the future. However, there were significant gender differences in terms of present and expected car use in old age somewhat similar to those observed in the older cohorts. In addition, using cluster analysis, three segments of baby boomers could be differentiated. The segments showed significant differences in current travel behaviour and living circumstances and some similarities to former segmentations of older road users. Results indicate that the differences between boomers and their parents might be smaller than expected.