Abstract
Objectives: Bus is the most used mode of transportation for the elderly, yet it is not clear about the relationship between bus resource and the elderly population distribution. This study compared the regional elderly density and the bus resource distribution to investigate whether the bus resource meets the needs of the elderly. Methods: Data on regional elderly population was retrieved from the Ministry of the Interior at Executive Yuanin 2016. The number of bus stops was obtained from GIS-t, a geographic information system and Public transport data exchange managed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The bus usage rate of the regional public transportation resource came from the survey of people's daily use of transportation vehicles, in 2016. Correlation analyses and the Quantum-GIS was used to present the relationship among the distribution of bus resource, the regional population demand, the aged condition, and the bus usage rate. Results: The regional elderly public transport usage rate was positively related to bus stops density (Bus stops per Square kilometer) (r= 0.74, p＜ .001). The distance between bus stops had a trend of negative association with the elderly bus usage rate (r: -0.44, p= 0.051). Inside the last five list of bus stops density were Miaoli County, Changhua County, Nantou County, Taitung County and Hualien County which were located in the central and eastern Taiwan. The number of the elderly was serviced by per bus route stop which was positively related to the regional aging ratio (R: 0.48, p= 0.025). The top four numbers of the elderly serviced by per route bus stop were Yunlin County, Miaoli County, Chiayi County and Taitung County. Conclusions: The richer the bus resource a regional area has, the higher usage rate of public transportation there is. However, it was found that the regional areas with more elderly people have fewer bus resources, and there is a gap between urban and rural areas in terms of the bus resource distribution. Yunlin County, Miaoli County, Chiayi County, Changhua County, Nantou County and the eastern Taiwan have fewer bus resources. It is vital for the government to give more concern to this issue and facilitate the construction of public transportation.
| Translated title of the contribution | Relationship of regional elderly density and bus resource based on geographical analysis |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Pages (from-to) | 252-264 |
| Journal | Chinese Journal of Public Health |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 Jun 21 |
