How to bridge the older adults' digital divide in using digital travel services? A comparative analysis between ride-hailing and train E-ticket services in China

IF 6.6 1区经济学 Q1 URBAN STUDIES

Cities Pub Date : 2025-10-06 DOI:10.1016/j.cities.2025.106536

Huiqian Sun , Peng Jing , Xuemei Fu , Jiaxin Xu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The integration of intelligent systems in travel services presents a dual-edged sword for older adults, enhancing mobility and safety while potentially excluding those with limited digital literacy. Ride-hailing and train e-ticket services represent two pivotal digital transportation solutions catering to older adults' short-distance urban and long-distance intercity travel needs. In this paper, we use two cross-sectional datasets to comprehensively examine and compare the digital divide of older adults using ride-hailing and train e-ticket services by dividing the complete service into multiple operating steps. The Concentration index values are 0.0978 and 0.1367 for the ride-hailing and train e-ticket services, suggesting a more severe digital divide in using train e-tickets. Furthermore, propensity score match results reveal that the more pronounced digital divide observed in train e-ticket than in ride-hailing services stems from significant operational challenges encountered in destination input (steps 3–4), seat information verification (step 6), and online payment (step 8). We also identify the influence of demographic characteristics on the digital divide of travel service usage among older adults, especially for different digital divide groups. Our finding provides targeted recommendations for operational procedures for different travel services, enabling software companies to develop user-friendly interfaces that bridge the digital divide among digital travel services for older Chinese adults.

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如何弥合老年人在使用数字旅游服务方面的数字鸿沟？中国网约车和火车电子票务服务的比较分析

对老年人来说，将智能系统整合到旅行服务中是一把双刃剑，一方面增强了他们的移动性和安全性，另一方面也可能将数字素养有限的老年人排除在外。网约车和火车票服务代表了两种关键的数字交通解决方案，满足了老年人的城市短途和城际长途旅行需求。在本文中，我们使用两个横截面数据集，通过将完整的服务划分为多个操作步骤，全面检查和比较老年人使用网约车和火车电子票服务的数字鸿沟。网约车和火车票的集中度指数分别为0.0978和0.1367，表明使用火车票的数字鸿沟更为严重。此外，倾向得分匹配结果显示，火车票中比网约车服务中观察到的更明显的数字鸿沟源于目的地输入（步骤3-4）、座位信息验证（步骤6）和在线支付（步骤8）中遇到的重大运营挑战。我们还确定了人口特征对老年人旅游服务使用数字鸿沟的影响，特别是对不同数字鸿沟群体的影响。我们的研究结果为不同旅游服务的操作流程提供了有针对性的建议，使软件公司能够开发出用户友好的界面，弥合中国老年人在数字旅游服务中的数字鸿沟。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Cities URBAN STUDIES-

CiteScore

11.20

自引率

9.00%

发文量

517

期刊介绍： Cities offers a comprehensive range of articles on all aspects of urban policy. It provides an international and interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of ideas and information between urban planners and policy makers from national and local government, non-government organizations, academia and consultancy. The primary aims of the journal are to analyse and assess past and present urban development and management as a reflection of effective, ineffective and non-existent planning policies; and the promotion of the implementation of appropriate urban policies in both the developed and the developing world.