天野 圭子

本研究は「鉄道シニアパス」が郊外に居住する高齢者の交通行動に及ぼす影響を明らかにすることを目的としている．購入者の余暇活動頻度や内容，市街地利用形態の変化について特に考察する．また一部の被験者に沿線の店舗や施設・イベント情報をメーリングリストを用いて配信し，効果を検証した．ケーススタディ地域とした兵庫県川西市は，能勢電鉄と阪急バス沿線にオールドニュータウン群を有し，ターミナルの川西能勢口駅周辺は商業施設が並ぶ．アンケートの分析結果から，シニアパスは余暇活動と鉄道利用に，メーリングリストは鉄道利用に促進の効果が確認された．鉄道利用に伴って買い物や趣味，交流，余暇活動などの増加がわかった．また，川西能勢口駅周辺と，梅田や宝塚沿線の買い物やスポーツ，交際・交流等がシニアパスにより促進されていた．

This study aims to grasp the local background of some areas where the community bus has been operated since the Road Transport Act was revised in 2002. Twelve characteristic areas studied include the successful cases, the cases where attempts were made as to the selection of new models of vehicle as well as new service routes, and the cases where the operation was assigned to non-governmental organizations. The results of the study are as follows : 1. In a large urban area where a number of different public transportations had been in service, efforts were made to improve the transportation network by connecting some of the existing services, to wit, the efforts to fill the gap where the public transportation had not been easily available. The new service was designed not as an independent body but as part of the entire network. 2. In some local cities, the community bus was introduced to substitute the public service, which had been abrogated on account of the cost performance being below break-even, and to improve the public transportation as a whole. The local government, however, had to cover a deficit when it showed. It is to be noted, on the contrary, that, in some of these cities, the coefficient of utilization often rose thanks to the efforts, for instance, to remodel the bus on the basis of the responses to a questionnaire which the local administration distributed from time to time. 3. In majority of the areas where population had continued to decrease, the local administration had to reorganize its public transportation system when the theretofore bus service was no longer available. As there were no bus companies to turn to, the administration assigned the newly organized bus service to various bodies such as a local business association, NPO, and/or a taxi company. In other words, the bus service pattern became richer than in other areas owing to a scheme contrived to meet the need of respective areas.