New Insights into Senior Travel Behavior: The Canadian Experience

ABSTRACT Societies in many developed nations around the world are aging. Over the past decade, a growing body of research has emerged internationally in an effort to anticipate and prepare for the transport challenges posed by this unprecedented demographic change. This paper contributes to this line of research by offering new insights into senior travel behavior focusing on the recent Canadian experience. Using weekday data from the 1992 and 2005 General Social Surveys on time use, changes in the number of trips, the duration of trips, trip mode, and trip timing are evaluated for urban seniors. In contrast to the experiences of many other developed nations, analysis of the first three indicators of behavioral change refutes the notion that “automobility” has increased in Canada over the 13‐year period. While this finding is encouraging, it is tempered by the fact that Canadian seniors who choose to travel by car are doing so increasingly during the morning and evening peak periods. The results from a peak versus non‐peak departure‐time model that pools data from both years offer important insights into factors driving this change. For instance, the results suggest that the propensity to start a trip during rush hour has increased over time for non‐work trip purposes.