Young Americans Lead Trend to Less DrivingFor six decades, Americans have tended to drive more every year. But in the middle of the last decade, the number of miles driven — both over all and per capita — began to drop, notes a report to be published on Tuesday by U.S. Pirg, a nonprofit advocacy organization.
People tend to drive less during recessions, since fewer people are working (and commuting), and most are looking for ways to save money. But Phineas Baxandall, an author of the report and senior analyst for U.S. Pirg, said the changes preceded the recent recession and appeared to be part of a structural shift that is largely rooted in changing demographics, especially the rise of so-called millennials — today’s teenagers and twentysomethings. “Millennials aren’t driving cars,” he said.
In fact, younger people are less likely to drive — or even to have driver’s licenses — than past generations for whom driving was a birthright and the open road a symbol of freedom. Research by Michael Sivak of the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan found that young people are getting driver’s licenses in smaller numbers than previous generations.
Online life might have something to do with the change, he suggested. “A higher proportion of Internet users was associated with a lower licensure rate,” he wrote in a recent study. “This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that access to virtual contact reduces the need for actual contact among young people.”
Baby boomers, too, are aging out of the daily work force and need to commute less. If the decline continues, the U.S. Pirg report states, driving could remain below its 2007 peak through 2040, even though the population is expected to grow by 21 percent.
Charlotte, whose success as a financial center has helped its population grow toward 800,000, takes transit seriously, said David Howard, a member of the City Council and chairman of its transportation and planning committee. The city tries to channel growth into manageable areas, he said, by filling in the urban core with new development and encouraging new construction along major transportation corridors, including an expanding rail line. “It didn’t happen by mistake,” he said.
The rail line was projected to reach a ridership of 12,000 people within 7 to 10 years; it hit that level in the first month and a half, he said. President Obama has nominated the city’s mayor, Anthony R. Foxx, to be the next transportation secretary.
The drop-off in driving is already having wide-reaching effects across the country. It means that gasoline taxes, which help finance transportation investment, are bringing in less revenue. The U.S. Pirg report suggests that the nation’s shift in driving trends calls for a change in the things the nation spends that money on. “When dollars are so scarce, we need to be sure we’re not building highways that aren’t really needed — especially if doing so means neglecting repairs of existing highways, and neglecting to build transit projects when transit ridership is soaring,” Mr. Baxandall said.
Americans Are Driving Less Due To Gas Prices, Weak EconomyAmericans are driving less than they used to because of higher gasoline prices, a weak economy and changing generational preferences, according to a report released Tuesday that found a sixty-year "driving boom" had hit the brakes.
The researchers said car use is likely to decline further as members of the Millennial generation, now in their teens to early 30s, move into cities and rely more on public transportation, while car-loving baby boomers age out of their "peak driving" years. People aged 16 to 34 racked up 23 percent less mileage in 2009 than in 2001, the study said, demonstrating a greater decline in driving than for any other age group.
"This is a new direction - a real break, a real change, the study's co-author, Phineas Baxandall, an analyst at the U.S. PIRG, said in a briefing on Tuesday. "After 2004, on per capita basis, driving has gone down, and the number of vehicle-miles driven has also gone down each year since 2004." This trend is reflected in vehicle ownership, which has decreased by 4 percent between the all-time high of 1.24 vehicles per driver in 2006 and now. The percentage of driving-age Americans with licenses also fell to a 30-year low of 86 percent in 2011 from an all-time high of 90 percent in 1992.
The study noted that cycling, walking, light rail and other alternative methods of transportation have gained popularity in recent years: In 2011, Americans took nearly 10 percent more trips via public transportation than they had in 2005.
Young Americans in their late teens and 20's are less enthralled with the automobile than prior generations and are seen as regarding high-tech devices, including tablet computers and smartphones, as more important status symbols than cars.
Declining gasoline demand
