2017 Volume 73 Issue 5 Pages I_723-I_733
Super-aging societies and urbanization are global trends in both developed and developing countries. The general concern is that elderly people's physical mobility and living condition may limit their ability to travel to social activities and opportunities, leading to the problem of social exclusion. This study aims to investigate the degree of social exclusion of elderly people related to the degree of satisfaction with transportation, the issue that has received little attention in developing countries.
By conducting count data and ordered logistic regression analyses, the results of survey data from senior citizens living in Bangkok, Thailand, indicated that non-mandatory activities had more influence on the feeling of social inclusion of Bangkok elderly than mandatory activities. A large portion of older people needed assistance to support transportation needs. However, most of these people had to rely on their own transportation to reach non-mandatory activities during weekdays because of a temporal mismatch with their assistants. When dissatisfaction with daily transportation generated a gap between desired and actual trip frequency to non-mandatory activities, feelings of social exclusion occurred. The importance of fighting social exclusion by increasing older people's satisfaction with their daily transportation is discussed.
