A California Survey of Older Adults Comfort With Ride-Hailing Found That Approximately Two-thirds of Respondents Valued Not Having to Ask for Rides or Drive at Night.

A Survey in California Studied Those Aged 55 and Older Opinions on Ride-Hailing.

Date Posted

04/27/2021

California, United States

California,

United States

Identifier

2021-B01551

Will Ride-Hailing Enhance Mobility for Older Adults? A California Survey

Summary Information

Ride-hailing services offer a potential mobility option for aging populations who risk social and economic isolation if they cannot drive for health or financial reasons. A survey-based study was conducted by Mineta Transportation Institute to explore in detail the potential of ride-hailing to meet the travel needs of California adults 65 and older. An online survey was administered from June 19 - September 9, 2019. A total of 2,917 California adults aged 55 and older responded to the survey (note that this age range was chosen to include current adults 65 years of age and older, plus individuals who will move into this age group in the coming decade).

The main approach of the study was to explore whether older Californians who have access to the internet used ride-hailing and how comfortable they were with ride-hailing service features. Respondents were also asked whether they would value potential new ride-hailing service features designed to improve safety, accessibility, and payment options, and what reasons they saw to use ride-hailing.

Methodology

Quota sampling was used to ensure a sample that closely represented the California population of adults 55 years of age and older in terms of basic socio-demographic characteristics. The survey results can be generalized to the 86 percent of Californians over 55 who indicated that had access to the internet.

Findings

“Survey results showed that ride-hailing is promising as a travel option for older adults. Close to half of survey respondents had experienced ride-hailing (46 percent) and almost a third had booked a ride themselves (30 percent). Even among the oldest age group, those 75 and older, 42 percent had experienced ride-hailing, 25 percent had booked a ride, and 37 percent had a ride-hailing app.”
“The survey found that 63 percent of respondents were somewhat or very comfortable riding with a driver they did not know, 51 percent were somewhat or very comfortable with riding after dark, and 51 percent were somewhat or very comfortable with sharing credit-card information with a ride-hail company.”
Older online adults would value getting more help with booking ride-hailing trips. Seventy percent of respondents would value having a company helpline to call, and 63 percent would value the option to book the trip over the phone with a live agent.
Older online adults particularly value ride-hailing to avoid asking for rides (65 percent), driving at night (66 percent) and to avoid the worry of getting lost (61 percent).
Potential new ride-hailing service features that appealed to large numbers of today’s and tomorrow’s seniors include having a driver trained to help older passengers (supported by 60 percent of the respondents) and the option to pay with a ride-hailing card that is not linked to a bank account or credit card (supported by 61 percent of the respondents).