Finland postal service starts befriending scheme

[November 2016] Finland's postal service is to offer an "outdoor buddy" scheme for older people, in its latest bid to diversify as mail volumes fall. The state-owned Posti company says that - for a price - its workers will take elderly people out of the house for walks, something they might otherwise feel unsafe doing alone.
Read BBC article >>

Covenant on Demographic Change launched

[January 2016] The Covenant on Demographic Change is open to all interested parties (i.e. local, regional and national authorities, as well as civil society organisations, industries, research centres and universities) that voluntarily commit to making age-friendly environments a reality in their communities and to share their experience with other Covenant members.
Press release >>
Practical information >>

The Future of Transport in an Ageing Society

[June 2015] This project from ILC-UK and Age UK sets out the key transport challenges that are arising from the UK’s ageing population. Using analysis from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), as well as evidence from transport experts at a stakeholder’s workshop, this report argues that the current transport system is failing to meet the needs of too many older people.
Download report >>

Bus passenger training for older people in Bad Münstereifel (South of Köln, Germany)

[June 2015] During the free bus journey the VRS representatives Katja Naefe and Bernd Knieling could transmit useful and personalised tips and information to the participants about the bus lines, timetables and tickets. A number of practical tips were also shown about safe and convenient travelling.
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Being 97 is no barrier to enjoying cycling in Copenhagen

[February 2015] In the Danish capital, elderly people are reconnecting with their city as they are pedalled around it by volunteers in rickshaws. Now the Cycling Without Age scheme is spreading to other countries.
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Study: Cycling keeps you young

[January 2015] A new study confirms that not only will cycling keep you looking good, it will also keep you young. Published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers from King’s College London and the University of Birmingham found that cyclists over the age of 55 "had levels of physiological function that would place them at a much younger age compared to the general population."
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Latvian city Daugavpils and Dutch capital Amsterdam offer free public transport to pensioners

[December 2014] The Latvian city of Daugavpils has introduced free public transport for residents over the age of 70. Amsterdam in the Netherlands is also trialling a similar service for those receiving the state pension until the end of December. Such policies are becoming more and more common across Europe, such as in Cluj-Napoca (Romania).
Visit Eltis >>

New project promotes and improves public transport in rural areas

[October 2014] Public transport isn’t the first ride of choice in the countryside, but it could become a more popular one under a new EU project. The SmartMove project encourages a shift from car to public transport through personalised marketing campaigns focussing on the needs of travellers. Among the driving forces, the project will devote special attention to the issue of ageing, as many European rural regions currently face the issue of declining and ageing population.
Visit the SmartMove website >>

Cluj-Napoca grants free public transport for older people (Romania)

[September 2014] In less than a month since the launch in early September 2014, 57,000 pensioners in Cluj-Napoca have been able travel around the city's metropolitan area free of charge. The changes also apply to older people in two neighbouring towns, Apahida and Floreşti. This came after requests from residents saying that it would make it easier to visit friends and relatives.
Visit Eltis >>

New Knowledge and Innovation Community for active ageing announced

[March 2014] The European Institute of Innovation and Technology is a new European institution, with the aim to accelerate the uptake of innovations on the market. It implements its activities by creating and supporting so called Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC's) - public & private funded partnerships of business, research, and education. Showing the importance of the topic, the latest in the row is "Innovation for healthy living and active ageing".
See announcement >>

2013 Synaptic Award winner: Safety for Elderly People in Zagreb Public Transport, Croatia

[June 2013] The Synaptic Awards for Excellence in Seamless Mobility are granted in three categories. In 2013 the winner of the category 'Best public transport solution' was an Eltis case study, titled 'Safety for Elderly People in Zagreb Public Transport, Croatia'.
See Eltis news item >>
Read winning case study >>
Visit Synaptic Awards website >>

Article about older people's mobility in Israeli magazine

[March 2013] An article was published in the magazine of the Israel Centre for Accessbility about the issue of older people's mobility. You can download from here the whole article, which is preceeded by an English-language table-of-contents.
Download article (13-MByte PDF) >>

AENEAS training programme among the selected candidates for the SYNAPTIC AWARD

[April 2012] Good practices submitted to Eltis as case studies between 1 January 2011 and 31 January 2012 that fit into the three award categories are eligible for the 2011 SYNAPTIC Awards. The "Public Transport Training in Munich" case study was proposed for the category "Best public transport solution". Final decision will be made on 25 April by an international jury. More on SYNAPTIC >>

AENEAS activities from Donostia - San Sebastián and Munich are now available as videos on Eltis

[March 2012] The Eltis website is constantly expanding its collection of short films about innovative sustainable urban mobility solutions. As part of it, the Eltis video team has filmed and published short films about some selected AENEAS activities:
--> Helping and encouraging older people to walk (Donostia - San Sebastián, Spain)
--> Cycle training for elderly people (Munich, Germany)

Although it is not directly about older people's mobility, further films were also made about mobility innovations in Donostia San Sebastián: Cycle policy to boost cyclig | Bicycle goods delivery | Vertical transport systems

Alojz and Vlatka: new video about safety for older people in public transport (Zagreb, Croatia)

[February 2012] The CIVITAS ELAN project has released a new educational video for older passengers in public transport. The main characters of the video are Alojz and Vlatka - two eldery pensioners from Zagreb who are faced with everyday challenges using public transport. The video shows how Alojz and Vlatka meet these challenges and what they learn about putting safety first as they go. more >>

Award for "Active Ageing – City Map for Senior Citizens" (Munich, Germany)

[January 2012] The city map for senior citizens developed by the Munich Department for Health and Environment has now been awarded with the 2011 Bavarian Award for Health and Prevention (Bayerischer Gesundheitsförderungs- und Präventionspreis 2011), as it provides guidance for short distance mobility for older people. more >>

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