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Abstract
The low mobility of older people is due in part to a history of auto-oriented transportation and
land use policy decisions. It is well known that land use policies that make it possible to drive
less appear to be promising to reduce driving. However, little attention has been paid to the
implications of this policy to older people. Using data collected from Northern California in
2003, this study focuses on residential choice and travel choice of the elderly. The results
showed that the elderly had stronger preferences for driving-reducing neighborhood attributes,
but were less likely to live in a place that met their preferences than younger people. Generally,
older people drove less and used alternative modes more than younger people. After
controlling for attitudes and socio-demographic characteristics, various elements of
neighborhood design are associated with travel behavior. Overall, although neighborhood
design has limited effects on reducing driving and promoting transit use, enhancing accessibility
tends to be a promising strategy to promote walking trips. More importantly, the enhanced
accessibility may have a much larger effect on the elderly than on the younger. Therefore,
neighborhood design seems to be important to sustain the accessibility of older people.