2.1 Case
Study
1. Japan - Woman-only
passenger car
Woman-only passenger car in Japan
called “Flower Trains”firstly introduced in 1912 to protect female students
from lecherous man during peak hours. This method has been an effective way to
providing woman a safer and comfortable way to travel. Signage and notice board
written “Woman Only”are printed in pink, as well as the pick coloured train. The
train is not 100% exclusively for woman, the operators allow boy primary school
student and disabled person to board in Woman-only cars.
2. Singapore - Priority Queue
for Elderly
Land Transport Authority of Singapore has provided
a priority queues that allow Elderly, Handicapped, Pregnant Woman and Children.
The LTA said this priority queues is a series of senior- friendly initiative
that ensure that seniors and those with mobility needs may have a safe and
pleasant journey”. Our group strongly agree with this method, and we think this
method can be applied to every bus stop I Singapore.
2.2 Online Survey
This Research method is to know more in depth of the youth’s ( age 17-25 ) perspective about physical mobility. And Online Survey is easier and less time consuming than other research methodology. It’s possible for us to get more results within a short time and this survey will conduct at least 40 different people in Singapore. It was created using SurveyMonkey.com and our survey consist of 10 questions, 7 of them are multiple choices questions and 3 are based on self-opinion. The survey link is spreader to our classmates and friends on social media.
Survey Responses :
Q2.
Q9. Did you find any difficulties while you were accompanying elderly taking the public transportations ? Please share your experience.
The responses that we choose :
- Too crowded
- The bus driver drive too fast
- Not enough seats
- Train door is closing too fast
- Hard to find taxi around peak hours
Q10. What could be improved through the problem you faced?
The responses that we choose :
- Having Seats that only accessible via their elderly ez-link card
- Improve the space
- More advanced technology
- Special car or bus for elderly
- Teach the bus drivers driving etiquette
Survey Analysis
On this online survey we had gathered 10 answers overall.
We received feedbacks for our online survey questions from 47 respondents (100% students). Majority of them are international students and around 24% are local. According to our research, most of the students grandparents are now around 60-70 and 70-80. Greater part of their grandparents are now retired, while 13% are business man or having their own companies, 16% are teachers and employee, and the rest still having others jobs.
Out of 47 respondents who have answered our online survey, most of them said that their grandparents are living with their family, while 11% are living alone with another 11% living with maid, and the rest just live together with their spouse. Majority of them, around 70% are still ambulant and they don't have any physical disabilities, which means they don't need any tools to support them while moving around or doing daily physical activities. But some of them are included as semi- ambulant, they are using several types of tools like walker / walking aid, cane, wheelchair, and motorised scooter.
Most of our respondents are actually international students, according to the survey most of their grandparents are using private vehicles. In contrast, the second most common used transportation is cab. As they don't travel too much and cab is more convenient for the elderly. The rest of them take buses and trains. The students that usually accompany the elderly while taking public transportations are facing some troubles and difficulties. Most of the time, public transportations in Singapore are too crowded, so the elderly are having a hard time to go in and find a seat, and even sometimes they didn’t get any seat. Another problem is that the bus driver sometime didn't wait until the elderly are seated properly, and they just drive fast which could lead to some accidents to the elderly people. Other than that, the train door usually are closing too fast, as the elderly are usually walk slow, while they are going inside and the door closing too fast , accidents could happen. It is also hard to find taxi on peak hours while they need to go to places.
For the last question, we recieved some really useful and great feedback from the respondents. The gave us advices on how to improve the public transportation and to solve this problems. One of the most interesting advice is to have seats on the public transportation that are made especially for the elderly, that is to make the seats which accessible only via senior ezlink card. Another one is that to teach the bus drivers driving etiquette, as they usually drive fast brutally. One respondent answered that the public transportation should improve the space and advanced the use of technology.
2.3 Interviews
Our group chose a site at Bendemeer Blk 29 market and food centre for interview. We suspected this place is common for elderly around the neighbourhood having meal and gathering with their friends. We approached some senior citizen with different backgrounds and asked them several questions related to their ability to move around the city and their experience in taking public transportation.
Fig. First Interviewee – Yeo Suat Yong
Yeo Suat Yong (80) – Retired
A retired lady who lives far away from Bendemeer is living together with her family. She takes public transportation as she travel around the city. In her opinion the frequency range bus takes a very long time. She prefers to take MRT because it’s faster and the frequency range is short. She is ambulant, and there were no specific problem she had faced so far.
Fig. Second Interviewee – Noor Vi ( woman left )
Noor Vi (70) – Retired
This old lady lives alone in Bendemeer HDB. Due to poor health condition as she explained, she has a high blood pressure. She experienced fell down inside the MRT few years ago. That happened when she was trying to stand up but while the train stopped she couldn’t stabilized her foot. She told us that ever since she had never taken MRT anymore. She rarely travel far away from home, except someone from the community centre accompany her to take bus or MRT.
Fig. Third and Fourth Interviewee – Mrs. Huang and Mr, Huang ( Centre )
Huang (75) – Businessman
Mr. Huang lives in Hougang with his wife. As a businessman he mobiles a lot. Usually he takes MRT and bus to travel and prefer MRT as it’s fast and more convenient. In his opinion, Singapore’s public transportation has developed much these past few years. However, it’s needed an improvement on bus design. The bus seats reserved for elderly are to few and not every people are aware to give the seat to the elderly.
Huang Miao Yun (72) – Housewife
Mrs. Huang lives in Hougang with her husband. She used to be math teacher and now she stays at home as a housewife. Usually she travel to find friends, visit her daughter, and do her hobby. Based on her experience, Singapore’s public transportation are convenient enough for elderly. She has been to other country in Asia before, and in comparison with other country’s public transport facility , she finds out that Singapore is better. This is because the culture of the citizens, mostly Singaporean are more discipline in taking public transportation. For the visual aspects, the signs and directions on bus and MRT stations are quite clear although some are too small for elderly with bad eye sight.
2.4 Conclusion
Our group have done 3 different ways for Research Methodology in topic of Mobility of the Elderly. From the case study, we picked a bus design from England. We chose this method because by doing research from various way of the problem solving around other country, it will open our knowledge and by that will be our inspiration to create a new applicable design in Singapore.
The second method is online survey. Our target of this online survey is youth from 17-25 years old. The questionnaires are related to their grandparents conditions, their physical condition, their mobility, and the youth personal experience towards mobility of the elderly in Singapore. We collected 47 responses from the youth, from the data we achieved a quantitative data that easily portray the percentage of ambulant - non ambulant elderly, what is the most common transportation do they use, or either they can drive by their own or not. This way is an easy and fastest way to collect data, but the accuracy of the answers are not strong enough.
The third method that we use is interview. We successfully interviewed 4 elderly with different backgrounds, and had a discussion with them related to their daily activities and how do they move around. We listened to their opinions, complains, and what are their wish for improvements in public transportation. From the answers, we got a qualitative data direct from the elderly. This method brings us to a depth understanding of what they’re facing in reality. Thus, we think that interview is the best and reliable way to collect data for a research.
