Towards a multi-modal transportation scenario: an analysis about elderly needs

For the elderly the use of public transportation services represents a central need, not only from an economic point of view, especially for the most disadvantages social classes, but also from the social perspective, since they creates social relations. However the elderly have several needs in their travel experience, deriving mainly from their psychophysical problems. In this scenario, to improve the travel experience of the elderly it is necessary to adopt an inclusive design approach, in which the different categories of people are considered as a resource for a more accommodating design. In this paper, the authors present a research on the design of multi-modal transport services with a focus on the interactions of the elderly with the digital services provided by the transport companies. Starting from the analysis of academic studies in this specific field, the authors present the results of an empirical survey. It has been conducted with the aim to identify the elderly needs, to define the elements that can improve their travel experience and to define those characteristics that allow to create more usable, accessible and sustainable interactive services. From this survey different types of needs emerge. They can be considered as requirements and consequent system features for potential digital services based on the elderly needs.