Skip to main content

Access to Public Transportation for Older Adults

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging
  • 336 Accesses

Synonyms

Age-friendly cities and communities; Intelligent environment/smart environment for older adults

Definition

There is no one universally accepted definition for the term “public transportation” in the academic literature. For example, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2017) defines public transportation as a system of transportation which includes a variety of transit options such as buses, light rail, and subways that are available to the general public, may require a fare, and run at scheduled times. On the other hand, Resolution 70/1 of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (2015) defines public transportation as a shared passenger transport service that is available to the general public. To add to this definitional conundrum, public transportation is also referred to as public transport, mass transit, and public transit.

The UN submits that public transportation includes cars, buses, trolleys, trams, trains, subways, and ferries that are shared by strangers without...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendell C. Wallace .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Wallace, W.C. (2019). Access to Public Transportation for Older Adults. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_207-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69892-2_207-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69892-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics