ArticleAmerican journal of public health2016
Free Bus Travel and Physical Activity, Gait Speed, and Adiposity in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
Article in American journal of public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Correlates and determinants of physical activity among older adults of lower versus higher socio-economic status: a systematic review and meta-analysis.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Policies and Programs to Combat Adult Obesity: a Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Public Health in the Political Sphere: Zero-Fare Public Transportation as a Case Study and Call to Action.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2026Article
- Funding for public transportation: results from a Midwest exit poll.Transportation research interdisciplinary perspectives · 2025Article
- Are physical activity and everyday mobility independently associated with quality of life at older age?Aging and health research · 2024Article
- Impacts of zero-fare transit policy on health and social determinants: protocol for a natural experiment study.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Public transit stop density is associated with walking for exercise among a national sample of older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Association between choices of transportation means and instrumental activities of daily living: observational cohort study of community-dwelling older adults.BMC public health · 2023Observational
- Nomogram for predicting the 12-year risk of ADL disability among older adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- From causal loop diagrams to future scenarios: Using the cross-impact balance method to augment understanding of urban health in Latin America.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- Physical Activity and Cumulative Long-Term Care Cost among Older Japanese Adults: A Prospective Study in JAGES.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Impact of the statutory concessionary travel scheme on bus travel among older people: a natural experiment from England.Ageing and society · 2020Article
- Motoric cognitive risk syndrome: Integration of two early harbingers of dementia in older adults.Ageing research reviews · 2020Review
- Associations of increases in public transport use with physical activity and adiposity in older adults.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2018Article
- MINDMAP: establishing an integrated database infrastructure for research in ageing, mental well-being, and the urban environment.BMC public health · 2018Article
- Predictors of public transportation in Mashhad: A population-based study.Journal of education and health promotion · 2018Article
- Does public transport use prevent declines in walking speed among older adults living in England? A prospective cohort study.BMJ open · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesWe investigated associations between having a bus pass, enabling free local bus travel across the United Kingdom for state pension-aged people, and physical activity, gait speed, and adiposity.
methodsWe used data on 4650 bus pass-eligible people (aged ≥ 62 years) at wave 6 (2012-2013) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing in regression analyses.
resultsBus pass holders were more likely to be female (odds ratio [OR] = 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.38, 2.02; P < .001), retired (OR = 2.65; 95% CI = 2.10, 3.35; P < .001), without access to a car (OR = 2.78; 95% CI = 1.83, 4.21; P < .001), to use public transportation (OR = 10.26; 95% CI = 8.33, 12.64; P < .001), and to be physically active (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.12, 1.84; P = .004). Female pass holders had faster gait speed (b = 0.06 meters per second; 95% CI = 0.02, 0.09; P = .001), a body mass index 1 kilogram per meter squared lower (b = -1.20; 95% CI = -1.93, -0.46; P = .001), and waist circumference 3 centimeters smaller (b = -3.32; 95% CI = -5.02, -1.62; P < .001) than women without a pass.
conclusionsFree bus travel for older people helps make transportation universally accessible, including for those at risk for social isolation. Those with a bus pass are more physically active. Among women in particular, the bus pass is associated with healthier aging.
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Registered trials
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