INCLUSIVE MOBILITY FOR ELDERLY PILGRIMS IN INDIA: A STUDY IN HARIDWAR, UTTARAKHAND

Abstract

The research aims to develop guidelines for inclusive mobility for elderly people in the Indian pilgrimage cities. Accordingly, four objectives are set to meet the purpose including identifying factors of mobility for the elderlies in a pilgrimage environment, to develop a framework for mobility studies, to identify the mobility problems faced by elderly and suggest strategies and interventions for policies and design in the Indian context. The study adopts an exploratory approach with a field based study of Haridwar city, a prominent pilgrim city of the country. The study undertakes a systematic strategic exploration of the subject by first taking critical literature review followed by the development of the framework for research. Further, it takes detail review of the case study Haridwar through secondary sources and field investigation. Thereafter, the study captured elderly pilgrims’ perception, elderly profile, mobility behaviour, infrastructure assessment, stakeholder input and policy review using the developed framework. Based on the findings by implementing the developed framework in Haridwar city, conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made in the thesis. The developed framework includes Space-Time Model, Stages of Travel, Mobility Perception, Pilgrims Profiling, Mobility Behaviour analysis, Infrastructure Assessment, Stakeholder’s Engagement, Policy Review and Comprehensive Analysis and Validation. The study showed that there are strong motivation and intention to come to Haridwar city despite the travel constraints and limitation of the city itself with respect to infrastructure. Causes of this gap identified by the study include inconsistency in the policy at different levels in translating the international and national agenda of elderly inclusiveness and barrier-free environment. Pilgrim travel to these destinations because of their strong motivation and intentions and strongly perceive the low level of mobility. The infrastructure assessment also shows the gap in various places and levels. Stakeholders’ input also shows wide gap in preparedness of host community. Elderly pilgrims’ profile indicates the need for intervention as most of the pilgrims face travel constraints including physical and economic limitations. This further lowers their participation in mobility and especially women’s participation. Mobility behavior does conform the need to improve the public transportation design intervention and introduce economically innovative mechanism to make the city inclusive.