Discrete Choice Elasticities for the Elderly and Disabled Traveler’s Choice between Fixed-route Transit and Paratransit

INTRODUCTION The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, required that a specialized transit service be provided to serve disabled people within 3/4 of a mile of existing standard bus routes and light rail stations. Having such services available, elderly and disabled people have a unique mode choice decision that is not available for typical travelers: the choice between public transit and paratransit. Consequently, the usual mode choice models and elasticities that have been developed for the choice between automobile, transit, and non-motorized modes, provide little insight on the paratransit-transit choice. Although many of the same factors may be the same, their influence on the decision between transit and paratransit for the elderly and disabled may be different. Previous literature on significant mode-choice factors can be loosely organized into three categories: 1) studies on the general travel behavior of the elderly and disabled; 2) studies on the travel demand aspects of fixed-route transit and paratransit; and 3) studies on mode-choice behavior of general travelers. Table 1 presents a summary of the important factors identified by study category. These studies help to identify those factors playing a role in the elderly and disabled mode choice decision. [Table 1 here] In terms of the travel characteristics associated with the elderly and disabled, Parolin (1988) used factor analysis to investigate the role of physical disabilities as barriers to travel. He found that the mode choice between auto, taxi, transit, and a wheelchair-equipped van service, was selected on the basis of four primary factors: accessibility, level of service, travel burden 1 , and cost. In a review of national trends, Niemeier et al (1995) identified the socioeconomic and demographic variables of sex, age, and disability status as having noticeable effects on mode choice. Her study also found that residents of rural areas chose the automobile mode over other modes more than residents of urban areas. Rosenbloom (1988) observed that both disability status and living alone vs. living with others strongly affected the decision to use specialized transportation services. Rosenbloom, in a study of elderly travel behavior using the 1990 National Personal Transportation Survey data (1995), found that a smaller portion of total trips were taken on transit by people with drivers licenses than by those without, and by whites than by other races. Moreover, for whites and non-Hispanic, non-black other races, women took a larger share of their trips than men did on …