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High-speed rail services for elderly passengers: Ticket-booking patterns and policy implications

  • Jiemin Xie
  • , Shuguang Zhan*
  • , S.C. Wong
  • , Keyu Wen
  • , Lixia Qiang
  • , S.M. Lo
    • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

19   Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Mobility is important for the well-being of the elderly, as it enables them to maintain social connections and enjoy a good quality of life. High-speed rail (HSR) is an important transportation mode in China, and considering China's aging population, HSR operators must offer convenient services to elderly people to enhance their mobility. This study analyzed HSR ticket-booking records to examine the ticket-booking patterns of elderly passengers in two China delta regions (the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta). The results show that male and female younger elderly passengers (i.e., those aged 60–69) differed in their HSR travel preferences (e.g., seat type and booking day), whereas these inter-gender differences were less significant among elderly passengers aged 70 and over. Furthermore, compared with the younger passengers (whose ages were less than 60 years), elderly passengers tended to avoid night trips and were more likely to travel with companions. However, the positive effects of group support were often hindered by ticket-selling limitations that prevented elderly passengers from sitting together. The findings indicate that elderly people in the two regions experience barriers to HSR travel, and we provide suggestions to improve their HSR travel mobility. © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)96-106
JournalTransport Policy
Volume125
Online published7 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Funding

The work described in this paper was supported by grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. [T32-101/15-R]) and the Guangdong - Hong Kong - Macau Joint Laboratory Program of the 2020 Guangdong New Innovative Strategic Research Fund, Guangdong Science and Technology Department (Project No. 2020B1212030009). The second author is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72171198). The third author is supported by the Francis S Y Bong Endowed Professorship in Engineering. The authors express their sincere gratitude to the Passenger Transport Department of the China Railway Corporation for the provision of the HSR ticket-booking records that were used (following relevant privacy guidelines) in this study.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 5 - Gender Equality
    SDG 5 Gender Equality

Research Keywords

  • Aging
  • High-speed rail
  • Ticket data
  • Ticket-booking pattern

Publisher's Copyright Statement

  • This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

RGC Funding Information

  • RGC-funded

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    • TBRS: Safety, Reliability, and Disruption Management of High Speed Rail and Metro Systems

      XIE, M. (Principal Investigator / Project Coordinator), BENSOUSSAN, A. (Co-Principal Investigator), LO, S. M. (Co-Principal Investigator), SHOU, B. (Co-Principal Investigator), SINGPURWALLA, N. D. (Co-Principal Investigator), TSE, W. T. P. (Co-Principal Investigator), TSUI, K. L. (Co-Principal Investigator), YU, Y. (Co-Principal Investigator), YUEN, K. K. R. (Co-Principal Investigator), CHAN, A. B. (Co-Investigator), CHAN, N.-H. (Co-Investigator), CHIN, K. S. (Co-Investigator), CHOW, H. A. (Co-Investigator), Chow, W. K. (Co-Investigator), EDESESS, M. (Co-Investigator), GOLDSMAN, D. M. (Co-Investigator), Huang, J. (Co-Investigator), LEE, W. M. (Co-Investigator), LI, L. (Co-Investigator), LI, C. L. (Co-Investigator), LING, M. H. A. (Co-Investigator), LIU, S. (Co-Investigator), MURAKAMI, J. (Co-Investigator), NG, S. Y. S. (Co-Investigator), NI, M. C. (Co-Investigator), TAN, M.H.-Y. (Co-Investigator), Wang, W. (Co-Investigator), Wang, J. (Co-Investigator), WONG, C. K. (Co-Investigator), WONG, S. Y. Z. (Co-Investigator), WONG, S. C. (Co-Investigator), Xu, Z. (Co-Investigator), ZHANG, Z. (Co-Investigator), Zhang, D. (Co-Investigator), ZHAO, J. L. (Co-Investigator) & Zhou, Q. (Co-Investigator)

      1/01/16 → 31/12/21

      Project: Research

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