Abstract:A CATI survey of the elderly was conducted in August 1996, and targeted a random sample of the elderly population in the Sacramento area in northern California. The survey was limited to respondents 65 years old and above, and yielded a sample of 260 respondents. This survey is a part of an ongoing research study at the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis. The main objectives of this study are to define the characteristics and travel behavior of the elderly and disabled population, and to test their acceptability of different new transportation technologies, and its potential for improving their mobility. This report describes the sample and introduces general descriptive statistics. The results show the physical difficulties that this group of the population have. It also shows the type of trips they make, and the difficulties they have in taking such trips. Several probit models of the likelihood of using transit (or paratransit) given the availability of a transportation technology were estimated. The estimation results of the models showed that several socio-demographic characteristics are important in determining the acceptability of the elderly for advanced transportation technologies. Gender and age are among these significant characteristics. The models also showed the importance of medical trips, and the role of such trips in choosing the transportation system. The respondents perceptions of several actions/situations were also important factors in the estimated models.