Imagining Age-Friendly “Communities Within Communities”: Uncovering Social and Physical Barriers to Age-Friendly Transportation

Transportation policy and research extensively consider physical barriers to transportation, but often overlook social barriers to using transportation. Given that accessible transportation is associated with decreased prevalence of social exclusion and isolation among seniors who have been identified as most at risk (e.g., seniors with language barriers and mobility limitations), ethnographic field research was conducted in Ottawa to observe seniors' transportation use and explore potential links between transportation poverty and social disadvantages. Interviews and informal discussions were also conducted with seniors, seniors' service providers, bus operators, and transportation managers. The inclusion of multiple perspectives provided insight into seniors' transportation needs while considering how those needs are (or are not) translated into practice. Barriers to transportation involved the interaction between transport and social disadvantages. However, promising practices and/or facilitators of transportation appeared to involve initiatives that aimed to reduce transport poverty by addressing transportation inequities that resulted from social disadvantages.