Inclusive public transport in the digital era: Public transport literacy, journey-planning apps, fare procedures, and age-related barriers

Introduction Public transport (PT) is increasingly mediated through digital journey-planning interfaces, shifting accessibility from network and physical design toward users’ ability to search, interpret, and act on app-based information. We propose public transport literacy (PTL) as a competency-based lens for understanding unequal realized accessibility. Methods 100 participants (50 aged 21–40; 50 aged 65+; gender-balanced) completed two Moovit trip-planning tasks: (1) a short real-time trip without transfers to a familiar destination and (2) a longer pre-planned trip with an arrival-by constraint and a required transfer. Outcomes included task success, assistance intensity (0–3 hints), completion time, and post-task reported difficulties. After Task 2, participants also described how they would pay for and validate the journey. Results Younger participants reached ceiling on both tasks, whereas older participants’ success declined from 88% in Task 1 to 60% in Task 2 (Generalized Estimating Equations [GEE]: Task 2 vs. Task 1 OR = 0.20 within the older group). Within the older group, Task 2 increased expected assistance (Poisson GEE IRR = 1.54). Completion time increased in Task 2 (LMM time ratio = 1.33), with evidence of a larger Task 2 penalty for older participants in completion-conditional models. Reported difficulties were markedly higher among older participants; time/schedule interpretation showed a strong Age × Task interaction (OR = 10.32). Although all participants reported knowing how to validate on board, clearly inconsistent validation descriptions were more common among older than younger participants (42% vs. 10%; OR = 6.52), with a significant within-participant discrepancy among older adults. Conclusions Inclusive digital PT should reduce demanding information-processing requirements, support users through complex journey-planning tasks, and communicate changing fare procedures clearly so that digital-by-default services do not compound transport and health inequities.