"Making TDM Boom with Boomers" Netconference

On February 28, 2006,  the National Center for Transit Research’s National TDM and Telework Clearinghouse at the University of South Florida and the Association for Commuter Transportation held a netconference entitled "Making TDM Boom with Boomers".
 

Click here to view the streaming media replay 
(You need Windows Media Player™  to view)

Overview:

Baby Boomers, America’s largest generation, have left a huge wake in our culture as they passed through each stage of life. At 78 million strong, they are 30% to 40% bigger than any other generation before or since. Consequently, as a generation, they are agents of change. And they’re not finished yet! They are about to transform America’s transportation infrastructure as we know it.

During the next 20 years, aging Boomers will help push the ranks of Americans age 65 plus from 35 million to over 70 million. The realities of aging, coupled with our automobile-dependent transportation system, will challenge Boomers’ all important sense of mobility. Retirees of the future will demand solutions. The TDM community may be perfectly positioned to answer this call -- to cater to Boomers’ sense of mobility. But the real work starts today – to get aging Baby Boomers to better understand and appreciate travel choices. The speakers share seven sensible steps to this end.

John W. Martin, President & CEO, Southeastern Institute of Research (SIR), a forty year old marketing research firm specializing in TDM-related research, and Matt Thornhill, with The Boomer Project, shared their firm’s proprietary research and offered related tips on how to make TDM programs appeal to “boomer-sensibilities.”

Having conducted over 50 research studies for AARP and thousands of other studies for organizations and businesses targeting the 50 plus market, SIR has gained tremendous insights into the lifestyles, attitudes, and psychographic profiles of Baby Boomers. SIR’s expertise is shared through the SIR Boomer Project, a nationally recognized marketing think-tank that monitors boomer-driven trends through a national quarterly tracking study.

During this netconference, SIR also shared findings from a TDM industry self-assessment survey on how the TDM community is preparing for the coming senior age wave. 
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This 87-minute session, moderated by Donna Smallwood, MassRIDES/URS Corporation, featured presentations from the following:

• John W. Martin, President & CEO, Southeastern Institute of Research (SIR)
• Matt Thornhill, President, The Boomer Project
• Copy of all the PowerPoint slides, including poll results (pdf) (823kb)

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