Demand-responsive transport increases elderly daily steps, study finds

In residential areas, where a growing number of older people live, first- and last-mile mobility has become a social problem. Demand-responsive transport (DRT) has the potential to address this social problem. DRT is a mode of transportation that dispatches passengers on demand to pick them up and drop them off according to their needs.

Student Mr. Souta Nakajima and Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University, investigated the effect of DRT on residents’ average daily steps. The study analyzed the case using the DRT demonstration project in Senboku New Town. Participants were recruited via the Health-Smart-Senboku smartphone application.

The results, published in the Journal of Transport and Health, reveal that DRT operation significantly increased the average daily steps by 628.16 [95% C.I. -231.37–1,487.70, p=0.009] steps/day.

This study also shows that the number of steps taken by the user group was lower than that of the non-user group before the demonstration experiment but increased to the same level as that of the non-user group during the demonstration experiment. In addition, this study confirms that DRT can promote walking among people with health-related problems who cannot use a private car.

“Our findings informed policymakers of the cross-sectoral effects of DRT,” said Mr. Nakajima and Dr. Kato.

“It is difficult for the transportation sector alone to bear the cost of operating the DRT, which is based on fare revenue. Therefore, the operation of DRT should be supported by the health care sector as well as the transportation sector through proper evaluation of its social impact. The multiple stakeholders must discuss the DRT operation as a transdisciplinary co-creation project to sustain the DRT as first- and last-mile mobility.”