To Keep Up with Aging Populations, City Transportation Needs to Evolve

As people live longer and more independently, many are finding that their city transportation systems are difficult to navigate: bus schedules don’t match the times they go out, payment platforms are harder to use or they’re physically unable to board buses or access subways.

This challenge is particularly urgent in China, where the aging population is rising rapidly. By 2035, 32% of the country’s population is projected to be 60 years or over; by 2050, that percentage is expected to increase to 40%.

In Beijing, the share of residents 60 years or older doubled between 2010 and 2024, where more than 16% of people are 65 years or older. Meanwhile in other major cities around the world — like Busan, South Korea; Osaka and Tokyo, Japan; Singapore; Helsinki and Barcelona — aging populations are also rising and confronting similar challenges. 

Transportation Habits of Beijing’s Older Adults

Public transportation systems are often built around working populations, offering increased service during morning and afternoon rush-hour commuting with lighter availability during the middle of the day, late evenings and weekends. But WRI’s study of Beijing’s rapidly growing population of seniors 60 years and older shows that even in retirement, older adults do not retreat from daily travel.

Instead, their average number of trips remained the same or slightly increased. Their behavior, however, shifted away from peak commuting hours, with late morning (after 9 a.m.) emerging as the most common travel window — mainly for leisure and grocery shopping, as well as for school pickups and other errands.

Compared to working and school-age populations, older adults tend to make shorter trips within their local neighborhood but the kinds of transportation they use is more diverse.

Between 2010 and 2024, walking was the most common way to travel across all generations in Beijing. Among older adults, private e-bike use grew sharply in recent years, suggesting a demand for a more comfortable, flexible and “point-to-point" convenient travel. Though older adults' total absolute bus ridership increases, buses have become less attractive option among their choices. This reflects some service, design and infrastructure barriers in the bus system that make it less age-friendly. The use of private cars, taxis and ride-sharing services also saw minor increases among older adults. Of all transportation options, the subway remained the least appealing, largely because of overcrowding and the lack of fare discounts.

Together, these trends highlight the need to move beyond basic accessibility toward inclusive, age-friendly public transportation systems that prioritize convenience, comfort, safety and service quality — especially for those with declining physical abilities — while supporting active aging and social participation.

Mobility Barriers in Beijing’s Transportation System

Some of the biggest public transportation barriers for aging populations we observed in Beijing are around service, street design and the digital platforms that are supposed to make navigating transit systems easier. They not only impact aging adults, but many other riders — especially people with disabilities. In fact, infrastructure that fails older adults can often create mobility bottlenecks for the broader public, including parents with strollers, travelers carrying heavy luggage and tourists navigating the city for the first time. By addressing these gaps, cities can enhance transportation for all residents, regardless of their physical ability or familiarity with the system.

Public Transportation Service and Design

Field studies in Beijing show that many bus stops could further improve age-friendly infrastructure — such as seating and weather shelters — as waiting for the bus to arrive can sometimes be physically demanding. Also, functional ramps or wheelchair lifts are still lacking throughout the bus system, making boarding difficult for people with physical limitations.

Coordination between bus stops and street design could be further optimized. For example, many older stations face rigid physical limitations where the platform width is insufficient to support both furniture, like benches, while passengers move by. To guarantee safe movement and evacuation for elderly and vulnerable commuters, cities must prioritize unobstructed transit corridors, temporarily leaving no room for seating areas until smarter, integrated street designs are deployed.

Service reliability and the availability of real-time arrival information could likewise be further strengthened, helping to reduce uncertainty for passengers while waiting.

Challenges extend beyond bus service to subways, which are often crowded and more difficult to navigate. For example, some subway stations may lack elevators, require steep stair climbs to reach trains, involve long walks between transfer points and offer few places to sit — all of which can affect comfort and convenience for older riders. And unlike buses and ride-hailing, subways currently do not offer fare discounts for older travelers. 

The Digital Divide

The rapid shift toward smartphone-based information and payment systems is creating a digital divide among older and younger generations. There’s a mismatch between fast-evolving technology and the physical/cognitive realities of aging, such as declining vision and reduced finger dexterity. This may also result in seniors experiencing more anxiety over privacy leaks or accidental mobile payments when interfaces change before they can adapt. As traditional services like manual ticketing and in-person inquiries fade, those who are less digitally confident are not just inconvenienced, they are increasingly left in a service vacuum in modern transportation systems where technology becomes a barrier rather than an enabler.

How Can Cities Adapt to a More Age-Friendly Public Transportation?

Assessing a city’s public transportation system for age inclusivity requires placing older adults — as well as other vulnerable social groups such as people with disabilities — at the very center of the decision-making process. Their direct participation and voices must be included in every stage — from the early development of transport policies to the technical design of urban spaces and digital services. Integrating their experiences is as vital as the technical factors themselves. City planners should equally consider the following core elements:

• Infrastructure inclusiveness, which evaluates whether older travelers can safely and comfortably complete the full physical journey. This includes walkway accessibility around bus and subway stops, waiting conditions (e.g., availability of seats, shelters and information displays), and on-board facilities (e.g., ease of step-free boarding and adequate priority seating).
• Service satisfaction that reflects older passengers’ perceived experience, including accessing transportation, information and facilities while waiting, in-vehicle safety, comfort and service quality, as well as overall operations, including transfer convenience, service frequency and route accessibility.
• Health benefits, which evaluates three critical areas of well-being: 1) active mobility, integrating transit with walking and cycling infrastructure — with unified payment and information systems — to encourage physical activities; 2) healthcare access, ensuring older adults easily reach hospitals and care facilities; and 3) social connectivity, expanding access to parks and community hubs to foster mental well-being through increased social participation.

By studying Beijing, we found some clear recommendations that cities can deploy to build a more inclusive public transportation system.

Public transportation service and street design should incorporate age-friendly infrastructure — such as weather shelters with seating at bus stops and functional boarding ramps on buses — to ensure the entire trip is accessible for people with limited mobility. Bus stops should also be designed to coexist with sidewalk trees and landscaping, leaving room for benches and waiting areas and offering shade to waiting passengers, while still allowing buses to pull flush to the curb and avoid dangerous boarding gaps.

For subway systems, a “silver-path” (a navigation system dedicated for older adults, that includes high-contrast, large-font floor decals and tactiles that provide direct, barrier-free routing to elevators and exits) should be installed. This will help reduce the physical pressures and cognitive overload that some seniors experience while navigating crowded stations. Subway systems should also include rest points and improve vertical accessibility by including continuous, stair-free routes — such as elevators, ramps and lifts — that allow people with mobility or physical limitations to move independently between different floor levels and reduce long walking distances. Finally, subway fare policies should align with bus services by offering standardized senior discounts, ensuring that cost does not become a secondary barrier to choosing a safe transit option.

Financially, the transportation system’s funding operations must be restructured so that government subsidies shift away from merely covering the operating losses of low-performance providers. Instead, performance-based incentives should be used to reward transit companies that proactively provide superior facilities and operational services tailored to the needs of older travelers.

To bridge the digital divide, public transport must adopt an inclusive design and a hybrid service model. Digital interfaces should be simplified into “senior modes” that feature high-contrast visuals and intuitive layouts to accommodate declining vision and dexterity, while also incorporating robust privacy safeguards to alleviate anxiety over mobile payments. Simultaneously, a combined digital and manual system is essential to support those less digitally confident. This includes maintaining traditional communication channels like telephone hotlines and community bulletins, alongside on-demand bus services accessible by phone. By integrating user-friendly technology with essential human-centric support, the system can ensure that technological advancement enables independent travel. Finally, collaborating with local communities and organizations to offer training that educates seniors on cybersecurity, data privacy, and online safety risks, will build the trust necessary for them to use digital services confidently.

Looking Forward: A City for All Ages

As cities prepare for the future and as their populations age, defining urban success must include a transportation system that moves from basic access to inclusive dignity.

Studying Beijing teaches us that an age-friendly public transportation system should solve both traditional infrastructure and service barriers, and bridge the digital divide that older generations might face — especially in the face of new artificial intelligence technologies.

WRI researchers Hua (William) Wen and Thet Hein Tun contributed to this article.