The purpose of this paper is to analyze travel behavior of the elderly in Kyoto City, based on data derived from the Person Trip Survey of the Keihanshin Metropolitan Area in 1990 and my own questionnaire survey held at the Golden Age Academy in March, 1997.
Spatial variation of travel behavior rate was examined. Generally, a lower rate of travel was observed in peripheral districts, while a higher rate was observed in central or inner districts. Such a pattern is different from the spatial distribution of the elderly population. A correlation analysis exhibits that the decision not to travel is related to variables such as cohabitation rate with a son/daughter and rate of retirement.
Characteristics of intraurban trips by the elderly are clarified. If we select only the elderly people who went out for purposes like shopping, their mean distance between residence and destination was actually longer than for their non-elderly counterparts (specifically, housewives and persons without an occupation and under 64 years old). Therefore, the proposition that the distance elderly people travel is shorter than that for non-elderly people is not necessarily the case.
Looking at various activities and trip destinations by the elderly, the results of the questionnaire survey show that within Kyoto there are many recreational places that the elderly enjoy. In particular, monthly fairs held at well-known shrines and public facilities for the elderly were investigated as examples. The fair had appeared before the period when population ageing began to attract attention in Japan. Public facilities, which appeared as a response to the ageing of population, are not very popular.
Finally, I suggest, based on these findings, that current social services are somewhat inappropriate.‘Soft’support is needed more than‘hard’support. It would be more helpful to the elderly to increase ease of access to existing opportunities and facilities rather than to construct facilities exclusively used by them. Such a consideration, I hope, will lead to the enhancement of the lives of Japan's elderly population.