[Travel outside the home and perceived problems with such travel, among elderly people in a small town]

To study travel outside the home by elderly people and perceived problems with such travel, a questionnaire was sent to 238 men and women aged 60-year-old and over living in a small town in Kanagawa prefecture. Public transportation in this town consists mainly of buses, and the bus ride from the nearest train station takes about 50 minutes. A total of 190 people responded (83.3%, after exclusion of those who had died, moved away, or were in the hospital). Of those 190 people, 166 (74 men and 92 women) went out by themselves and their responses were analyzed. About 50% of both men and women said that they go to the hospital once or twice a month and go out for hobbies less than several times a year. The means of transportation differed according to sex and age: 80% of men in their 60s said that they drive alone, but many men in their 70s and older said that they ride buses or walk. Women in all the age studied said that they ride buses or drive with others. More than 50% of men and women reported problems with transportation: men reported anxiety about driving alone and women reported difficulties with the poor means of transportation or when walking upstairs or uphill. Many men and women in their 80s said that they would rather not be driven places by others or be helped by others while riding trains or buses. These findings show the patterns of travel outside the home by elderly people of different ages, and the problems these people perceive with regard to various modes of transportation. They should be useful in the design of transportation suitable to older people.