Daily mobility of elderly: processes of eviction and processes of avoidance of metropolitan core cities?
Résumé
According to the latest Lille mobility survey (EMD, 2016) in 2016, people aged 55 and over
(nearly 300,000 people) make 120,000 more trips by car each day than in 2006 (+ 30%
increase). This can be explained by the greater demographic weight of the "55 and over"
population (+ 9%), by their increased mobility (+ 6%) and by their greater use of the car
(whose modal share has increased by 11%). They make more than 6 out of 10 trips by car
(62%), which is higher than the average for metropolitan areas (57%) (Plan de Mobilité
MEL, 2022). The perspective of a sustainable mobility public policy explicitly targeting
seniors drives our investigation.
The new seniors (baby boomers) seem to be very fond of their car to the point that a clear
increase in trips by car for all other purposes than work/study is observed when they retire
(Mertiny, Meissonnier, 2021). Proportionally to the working population elderly use the car
more often for their daily trips. This finding is counter-intuitive since retirees are notoriously
less constrained in their schedules than working people. This particular availability could
have promoted the use of slow or intermittent modes (public transportation, active modes).
How can we understand this tropism towards the car use among older people? We will put
forward the hypothesis of a double process of eviction and avoidance of metropolitan core
cities (where walking and public transport are easy). And symmetrically we can see a
relegation or polarization (depending on the point of view) on the peripheral urban areas,
where accessibility is almost exclusively by car.
On behalf of the European Metropolis of Lille, we are currently conducting a longitudinal
survey on the mobility of elderly over the period 2020-2024. One of the goals of this survey
is to better understand the changing travel behavior of the baby boomers. This survey
includes a quantitative part - quota with a sample of 1000 seniors (65 years and older) -
and a qualitative part - comprehensive semi-structured interviews (face-to-face first then
by telephone due to the COVID epidemy) with a diversified panel of 27 households over
65 years old.
More than the rest of the population elderly are detered from going to the city centre of
Lille. And if they live in Lille, they flee the hypercentre. On the one hand, they complain
about the lack of accessibility by car, which shows a process of avoidance linked with
public policies to reduce the offer of parking space, increasing price and number of paid
parking spaces, more complex traffic patterns for motorists... On the other hand they
complain of a process of eviction linked to their age in public transport and public space in
Lille: difficulties with digital tools in preparing a public transport journey, great confusion in
the various fare and ticketing offers, feelings of insecurity mainly caused by dirtyness and
an awareness of their own vulnerability.
As they appreciate the convenience of peripheral shopping areas, weekly used when they
were working, the new senior citizens are therefore more likely to turn to them than to the
city centres for most of their activities (shopping, but also health and leisure services). In
so doing, they make their dependence on the car last for their daily travel. This would
explain this new tropism for the car use in the 65-80 age group.
Domaines
Sociologie
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