Differences in ride-hailing adoption by older Californians among types of locations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2021.1827

Keywords:

Gender, Home location, Older adults, Ride-hailing, Technology adoption

Abstract

Ride-hailing services such as Lyft and Uber can complement rides offered by family, friends, paid providers, and public transit. To learn why older adults might wish to use ride-hail, we conducted an online survey of 2,917 California respondents age 55 and older. Participants were asked whether they would value four features hypothesized to be benefits of ride-hailing. We specified binary logit models and used market segmentation to investigate whether there were location-based differences in the use of ride-hailing. Our analysis showed that women, city dwellers, persons with disabilities, and those who rely on others for rides were more open to ride-hailing. Women in suburbs or small town/rural settings were more likely to ride-hail than their male counterparts for reasons of independence, fear of being lost while driving, or getting help with carrying bags. Urban women, in contrast, were less likely than their male counterparts to ride-hail for these reasons. High-income individuals in suburbs or small town/rural locations were more likely to ride-hail than low-income respondents, while high-income urban residents were less likely to ride-hail. Adoption of ride-hailing services and the reasons for doing so showed strong variability by location even among respondents with similar socio-demographic attributes.

Author Biographies

Manish Shirgaokar, University of Colorado, Denver

Dr. Shirgaokar is an assistant professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Colorado Denver. His research focuses on travel behavior, transportation consumption, and social equity in infrastructure policy. He has published research papers based on cases in the U.S., Canada, and India. He has a B. Arch degree (Honors) from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, India, and a dual-graduate Masters (M.C.P. / M. Arch) from the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley. More information at https://www.shirgaokar.com and on twitter @CityProfessor.

Aditi Misra, University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

Dr. Aditi Misra is an Assistant Research Scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute with expertise in stated and revealed choice experiments and data-driven travel behavior modeling and simulation. She has been a Data Science for Social Good, Atlanta program fellow and a recipient of the AirSage Pass Scholarship for data-driven transportation research. Dr. Misra is also a member of the World Economic Forum's advisory panel on the Seamless Integrated Mobility System (SIMSystem) project. She holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Transportation Systems Engineering) from Georgia Institute of Technology with a minor in Computational Econometrics, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Connecticut, and a B.C.E degree from Jadavpur University (India).

Asha Weinstein Agrawal, San José State University

Dr. Agrawal is the Director of the MTI National Transportation Finance Center, Education Director at MTI, and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, all at San José State University. Her research and teaching interests in transportation policy and planning include transportation finance, bicycle and pedestrian planning, and travel survey methods. She also works in the area of transportation history. She has a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Urban and Regional Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a B.A. from Harvard University in Folklore and Mythology.

Martin Wachs, University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Martin Wachs is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Civil & Environmental Engineering and of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he directed the Institute of Transportation Studies and the University of California Transportation Center. He earlier spent 25 years at UCLA, where he was Chairman of the Department of Urban Planning for eleven years. After retiring from the University, Wachs became the Director of Transportation, Space, and Technology Program at the RAND Corporation. He now teaches and conducts research at UCLA in transportation policy.  Wachs is the author of 200 articles and book chapters and wrote or edited five books on transportation finance and economics, relationships between transportation, land use, and air quality, transportation needs of the elderly, techniques for the evaluation of transportation systems, and the use of performance measurement in transportation planning. His research also addresses, equity in transportation policy, crime in public transit systems, and the response of transportation systems to natural disasters including earthquakes.

Bonnie Dobbs, University of Alberta, Canada

Dr. Bonnie Dobbs is Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, Director of the Medically At-Risk Driver Centre, and Director of Research for the Division of Care of the Elderly at the University of Alberta. She is a gerontologist with specialization in psychology, medicine, and human ecology. She has published numerous books, research reports, and journal articles relevant to this project, including Adult Development and Aging: The Canadian Experience” (Nelson Canada 2017); “Transportation Toolkit for the Implementation of Alternate Transportation for Seniors in Alberta” (The Medically At-Risk Driver Centre, 2016); “Staying Connected: Issues of Mobility of Rural Seniors”, in N. Keating (Ed.), A Good Place to Grow Old? Critical Perspectives on Rural Ageing (The Policy Press, 2008); and “Transportation and Aging: Exploring Stakeholders’ Perspectives on Advancing Safe Mobility” (South Africa Journal of Occupational Therapy, 2011).

References

Agrawal, A. W., Shirgaokar, M., Misra, A., Wachs, M., & Dobbs, B. (2020). Will ride-hailing enhance mobility for older adults? A California survey (No. 20–30; p. 79). San Jose, CA: Mineta Transportation Institute. https://doi.org/10.31979/mti.2020.1815

Alemi, F., Circella, G., Handy, S., & Mokhtarian, P. (2018). What influences travelers to use Uber? Exploring the factors affecting the adoption of on-demand ride services in California. Travel Behavior and Society, 13, 88–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2018.06.002

Alemi, F., Circella, G., Mokhtarian, P., & Handy, S. (2019). What drives the use of ridehailing in California? Ordered probit models of the usage frequency of Uber and Lyft. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 102, 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2018.12.016

Ben-Akiva, M., Mcfadden, D., Train, K., Walker, J., Bhat, C., Bierlaire, M., … & Munizaga, M. A. (2002). Hybrid choice models: Progress and challenges. Marketing Letters, 13(3), 163–175. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020254301302

Brown, A. (2019a). Redefining car access: Ride-hail travel and use in Los Angeles. Journal of the American Planning Association, 85(2), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2019.1603761

Brown, A. (2019b). Prevalence and mechanisms of discrimination: Evidence from the ride-hail and taxi industries. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X19871687

California Dept. of Finance. (2020). Demographic projections (total estimated and projected population for California: July 1, 2010 to July 1, 2060 in 1-year increments). Retrieved from http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Demographics/Projections/

Chen, Y., Bouferguene, A., Shirgaokar, M., & Al-Hussein, M. (2020). Spatial analysis framework for age-restricted communities integrating spatial distribution and accessibility evaluation. Journal of Urban Planning and Development, 146(1). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)UP.1943-5444.0000537

Chihuri, S., Mielenz, T., DiMaggio, C., Betz, M., DiGuiseppi, C., Jones, V., & Li, G. (2016). Driving cessation and health outcomes in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 64(2), 332–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13931

Conway, M. W., Salon, D., & King, D. A. (2018). Trends in taxi use and the advent of ride hailing, 1995–2017: Evidence from the US national household travel survey. Urban Science, 2(3), 79. https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci2030079

Coughlin, J. F. (2009). Longevity, lifestyle, and anticipating the new demands of aging on the transportation system. Public Works Management & Policy, 13(4), 301–311. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087724X09335609

Diller, E., Cook, L., Leonard, D., Reading, J., Dean, J., & Vernon, D. (1999). Evaluating drivers licensed with medical conditions in Utah, 1992-1996 (NHTSA DOT HS 809 023). Washington, DC: US DOT. Retrieved from https://one.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/research/utahdrivers/utahmedconditions.html

Enam, A., Konduri, K., Eluru, N., & Ravulaparthy, S. (2017). Relationship between well-being and daily time use of elderly: Evidence from the disabilities and use of time survey. Transportation, 45, 1783–1810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-017-9821-z

Erhardt, G. D., Roy, S., Cooper, D., Sana, B., Chen, M., & Castiglione, J. (2019). Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion? Science Advances, 5(5), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau2670

Federal Highway Administration. (2018, November). Highway statistics 2017 (Table DL-20). Retrieved from https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2017/dl20.cfm

Figueroa, M. J., Nielsen, T. A. S., & Siren, A. (2014). Comparing urban form correlations of the travel patterns of older and younger adults. Transport Policy, 35, 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2014.05.007

Foley, D. J., Heimovitz, H. K., Guralnik, J. M., & Brock, D. B. (2002). Driving life expectancy of persons aged 70 years and older in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 92(8), 1284–1289.

Frey, W. (2011). The uneven aging and “younging” of America: State and metropolitan trends in the 2010 Census (p. 21). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/0628_census_aging_frey.pdf

Gehrke, S. R., Felix, A., & Reardon, T. G. (2019). Substitution of ride-hailing services for more sustainable travel options in the greater Boston region. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(1), 438–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118821903

Grahn, R., Harper, C. D., Hendrickson, C., Qian, Z., & Matthews, H. S. (2019). Socioeconomic and usage characteristics of transportation network company (TNC) riders. Transportation, 47, 3047–3067. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-09989-3

Haustein, S., & Siren, A. (2015). Older people’s mobility: Segments, factors, trends. Transport Reviews, 35(4), 466–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2015.1017867

Henao, A., & Marshall, W. E. (2018). The impact of ride-hailing on vehicle miles traveled. Transportation, 46, 2173–2194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-018-9923-2

Hess, D., Norton, T., Park, J.-Y., & Street, D. (2016). Driving decisions of older adults receiving meal delivery: The influence of individual characteristics, the built environment, and neighborhood familiarity. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 88, 73–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2016.03.011

Hughes, R., & MacKenzie, D. (2016). Transportation network company wait times in greater Seattle, and relationship to socioeconomic indicators. Journal of Transport Geography, 56, 36–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2016.08.014

Keenan, T. (2010). Home and community preferences of the 45+ population (p. 25). American Washington, DC: Association of Retired Persons. Retrieved from https://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/general/home-community-services-10.pdf

Kim, S. (2011a). Assessing mobility in an aging society: Personal and built environment factors associated with older people’s subjective transportation deficiency in the US. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior, 14(5), 422–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2011.04.011

Kim, S. (2011b). Transportation alternatives of the elderly after driving cessation. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2265, 170–176. https://doi.org/10.3141/2265-19

Kim, S., & Ulfarsson, G. (2013). Transportation in an aging society: Linkage between transportation and quality of life. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2357, 109–115. https://doi.org/10.3141/2357-13

Kim, S., & Ulfarsson, G. (2015). Activity space of older and working-age adults in the Puget Sound region, Washington. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2494, 37–44. https://doi.org/10.3141/2494-05

Koppelman, F., & Bhat, C. (2006). A self-instructing course in mode choice modeling: Multinomial and nested logit models. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved from http://www.caee.utexas.edu/prof/bhat/courses/lm_draft_060131final-060630.pdf

Leistner, D., & Steiner, R. (2017). Uber for seniors? Exploring transportation options for the future. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2660, 22–29. https://doi.org/10.3141/2660-04

Li, M., & Tilahun, N. (2017). Time use, disability, and mobility of older Americans. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2650, 58–65. https://doi.org/10.3141/2650-07

Medina, L., Sabo, S., & Vespa, J. (2020). Living longer: Historical and projected life expectancy in the United States, 1960 to 2060 (No. P25-1145; current population reports, p. 27). Washington, DC: US Census Bureau. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1145.pdf

Middleton, S., & Zhao, J. (2019). Discriminatory attitudes between ridesharing passengers. Transportation, 47, 2391–2414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-10020-y

Parker, K., Horowitz, J., Brown, A., Fry, R., Cohn, D., & Igielnik, R. (2018, May 22). Demographic and economic trends in urban, suburban and rural communities (Pew Research Center social and demographic trends project). Washington, DC: Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2018/05/22/demographic-and-economic-trends-in-urban-suburban-and-rural-communities/

Payyanadan, R. P., & Lee, J. D. (2018). Understanding the ridesharing needs of older adults. Travel Behavior and Society, 13, 155–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2018.08.002

Ravulaparthy, S., Konduri, K., & Goulias, K. (2016). Fundamental linkages between activity time use and subjective well-being for the elderly population: Joint exploratory analysis framework for in-home and out-of-home activities. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2566, 31–40. https://doi.org/10.3141/2566-04

Rosenbloom, S. (2011). Driving off into the sunset: The implications of the growing automobility of older travelers. In Auto motives: Understanding car use behaviors (pp. 173–192). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Rosenbloom, S. (2012). The travel and mobility needs of older people now and in the future. In Aging America and transportation: Personal choices and public policy (pp. 58–73). New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Rosenbloom, S., & Herbel, S. (2009). The safety and mobility patterns of older women: Do current patterns foretell the future? Public Works Management & Policy, 13(4), 338–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087724X09334496

Rosenbloom, S., & Winsten-Bartlett, C. (2002). Asking the right question: Understanding the travel needs of older women who do not drive. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1818, 78–82. https://doi.org/10.3141/1818-12

San Francisco County Transportation Authority, (SFCTA). (2018). TNCs & congestion (p. 35). Retrieved from https://www.sfcta.org/sites/default/files/2019-05/TNCs_Congestion_Report_181015_Finals.pdf

Shirgaokar, M. (2018). Expanding seniors’ mobility through phone apps: Potential responses from the private and public sectors. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 40(4), 405–415. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18769133

Shirgaokar, M., Dobbs, B., Anderson, L., & Hussey, E. (2020). Do rural older adults take fewer trips than their urban counterparts for lack of a ride? Journal of Transport Geography, 87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102819

Sikder, S. (2019). Who uses ride-hailing services in the United States? Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2673(12), 40–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198119859302

Siren, A., & Haustein, S. (2013). Baby boomers’ mobility patterns and preferences: What are the implications for future transport? Transport Policy, 29, 136–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.05.001

Su, F., & Bell, M. G. H. (2012). Travel differences by gender for older people in London. Research in Transportation Economics, 34(1), 35–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2011.12.011

Tirachini, A. (2019). Ride-hailing, travel behavior and sustainable mobility: An international review. Transportation, 47, 2011–2047. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-019-10070-2

US Census Bureau. (2018, March). 2017 national population projections tables. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/popproj/2017-summary-tables.html

Vaa, T. (2003). Impairment, diseases, age and their relative risks of accident involvement: Results from meta-analysis (No. 690/2003; p. 58). Oslo: Institute of Transport Economics. Retrieved from https://www.toi.no/getfile.php?mmfileid=5780

Vivoda, J. M., Harmon, A. C., Babulal, G. M., & Zikmund-Fisher, B. J. (2018). E-hail (rideshare) knowledge, use, reliance, and future expectations among older adults. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior, 55, 426–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2018.03.020

Yu, H., & Peng, Z.-R. (2019). Exploring the spatial variation of ridesourcing demand and its relationship to built environment and socioeconomic factors with the geographically weighted Poisson regression. Journal of Transport Geography, 75, 147–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.01.004

Downloads

Published

2021-03-14

How to Cite

Shirgaokar, M., Misra, A., Weinstein Agrawal, A., Wachs, M., & Dobbs, B. (2021). Differences in ride-hailing adoption by older Californians among types of locations. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 14(1), 367–387. https://doi.org/10.5198/jtlu.2021.1827

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Manish Shirgaokar, Aditi Misra, Asha Weinstein Agrawal, Martin Wachs, Bonnie Dobbs

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with JTLU agree to the following terms: 1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial License 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. 3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.