| Sumario: | Purpose Since 1993 Taiwan has become an aging society. Taiwan will become an aged society by 2018 and will be a super- aged society by 2025 when the percentage of elderly reaches 20%1. In Taiwan baby boomers are defined as the population born between 1946 and 1966. Baby boomers born in 1946 reached age 65 in 2011, which marked the first year of the 20-year 'aging boom'. Boomers in Taiwan will surely be different from the older adults of the current generation2. An individual's ability to move is very important for maintaining an active lifestyle. Personal mobility comprises not only automobile travel, but also public transport, walking, and cycling. The purpose of this research is to identify the personal mobility needs of Taiwan's older adults. This paper presents the meanings and values of a mobile lifestyle for boomers in Taiwan. Method To explore the opinions of boomers in Taiwan, contextual inquiries3 with in-depth interviews were carried out. A total of nine people were interviewed, including men and women from ages 55 years to 75 years. The daily vehicles for these people include cars, motorcycles, and public transportation. The interviewees' data are organized by affinity diagram3 to reveal key themes in order to identify boomers' values, wants, and needs. Results & Discussion Figure 1 shows the meanings and values for boomers' personal mobility. The main meanings of a vehicle are the necessity to move freely, a private space for family travel, an eye-catching vehicle, active aging positive tools, and explorations. The values of boomers' personal mobility are described by wants and needs. Wants are the higher level needs. The main wants for personal mobility are to connect with friends, to have freedom and flexibility, to gain esteem, and to realize their dreams. The main needs for personal mobility are described by customer journey phases, which comprise pro-moving, in-moving, and post-moving, as shown in Figure 1. The critical needs are safety, security, carefree, saving time and effort, and ease of operation. These findings will be used as information to design innovative products and services.
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