<p>[Why</a> Young Americans Are Driving So Much Less Than Their Parents - Commute - The Atlantic Cities](<a href=“http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/04/why-young-americans-are-driving-so-much-less-their-parents/1712/]Why”>http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/04/why-young-americans-are-driving-so-much-less-their-parents/1712/)</p>
<p>From what I see…this is true.</p>
<p>Yep.</p>
<p>I’m 28 and don’t have a car. Never have had one, actually. At some point in my career/life, I’m sure I’ll need one. For now, I get around just fine by bicycling, using public transit or walking, and occasionally bumming a ride with friends. I intentionally chose a grad school with a walkable, livable college town environment and rent an apartment across the street from the football stadium, a 10-minute cycle trip from the heart of campus.</p>
<p>Saves me tons of money in insurance, maintenance, gas, yadda yadda yadda. Plus I’m not contributing as much to melting the glacier that I’m charged with interpreting and managing :)</p>
<p>Yep. :)</p>
<p>"Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to get around. In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24 percent more bike trips than they took in 2001. They walked to*their destinations 16 percent more often, while their passenger miles on transit jumped by 40 percent.</p>
<p>Part of the reason for this shift is financial. The report calculates the average cost of owning and operating a car as north of $8,700 dollars a year, and that was before gasoline passed $4.00 per gallon. In the wake of the financial crisis, many underemployed young people have decided that they either cant afford a car or would rather spend their money on other things. The report cites a Zipcar/KRC Research survey, which found that 80 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds stated that the high cost of gasoline, parking, and maintenance made owning a car difficult."</p>
<p>Two thoughts</p>
<ol>
<li><p>That’s very nice for people living in cities with public transit and weather conducive to walking/biking. </p></li>
<li><p>How sad that young people are forgoing in-person interaction in favor of technological interchanges.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, that’s the point: My generation is choosing to live in cities and dense neighborhoods featuring quality public transit networks. It is not an optional frill, it is a need. If a community doesn’t have it, we won’t live there.</p>
<p>That paradigm might suck for the sprawled-out exurbs that were created by the housing bubble, but… sucks to be them. Nobody forced anyone to build no-sidewalk one-house-per-acre McMansion subdivisions 50 miles from San Francisco. As someone quipped on The Atlantic comment thread for this article… “maybe the suburbs can be plowed under for farmland.”</p>
<p>Also, Portland has some pretty terrible weather, and yet is one of the most bicycle-commute-friendly cities in the country, with a vibrant bicycle culture as well. A little (or a lot of) rain shouldn’t stop anyone from cycling. I live and work in Juneau, Alaska in the summer - a freakin’ rainforest! - and cycle to my office, rain or shine. That’s what Gore-Tex is for :)</p>
<p>Definitely not true here in the motor city (state). The only reason you’re not driving/owning a car around here is because you can’t afford it.</p>
<p>I’m in the no car camp, and given my upcoming graduate school situation, I don’t really have any inclination to change that.</p>
<p>Since I’ll be on a campus with really good bus service from residential areas with lots of apartments, it won’t be a problem for me to take a bus to and from campus. Considering that I won’t have to worry about finding parking on campus and I can catch a bus about every half hour, it is just way more convenient to take the bus than to drive to campus. </p>
<p>It especially struck me on a recent grad school visit. I took the Greyhound to Connecticut and expected it to be a stressful experience. On the contrary, my connections were all set up with plenty of time in between, and instead of having to worry about navigating or keeping the driver alert, I was able to just zone out and do what I wanted on the ride there, including sleep. </p>
<p>Of course, it helps that I will be moving in with my fiance who has a car, which will definitely make the grocery situation easier. Aside from that and errands, I don’t have much daily use for a car. I don’t see us getting a second vehicle for quite some time.</p>
<p>Too much is made of “weather conducive to biking.” The Netherlands and Denmark are cold and snowy in the winter. Portland is rainy. Lots of people ride bikes for transportation in those places. Most weather is weather conducive to biking, for people used to riding their bikes.</p>
<p>Also, people who voluntarily shut themselves into cars to commute in might not want to bring up in-person interaction against people who walk, take the subway or ride their bikes. 'Cause, y’know, it’s a lot easier to interact with someone who’s not shut up in a metal cage.</p>
<p>Also, it’s easy to make a bike into a very capable grocery hauler with a couple panniers. I swear by my German-made Ortliebs :)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ortliebusa.com/CartGenie/prod-31.htm[/url]”>http://www.ortliebusa.com/CartGenie/prod-31.htm</a></p>
<p>Not true in my household,had to buy the a third car for older D’s, though they are very good with public transportation into the city</p>
<p>Seriously? You just won’t live anywhere but a major metropolitan area? Well, more power to I guess.</p>
<p>But I am going to pint out that average daytime temps in the Netherlands in the winter are 2-6C. That’s not all that cold.</p>
<p>20-something S–working where the weather is much colder and snowier than Denmark, and the not-so-hot public transport doesn’t go where he lives-- shares a car. He pays gas/insurance and drives the owner’s kids to school. . . He has no interest in buying a car–though I’ve suggested he save for one because this deal won’t last forever.
B-i-l is mid 40’s, never owned a car. Easy for him–he’s in Chicago.</p>
<p>I purposefully bought a home where my kids could walk to school k-12. My 16, 18 yo have no interest in driving, but I’m pushing 18 yo to get a license before college. Big change from when I was in high school–everyone drove at 16. Now parents don’t want to pay insurance and are more worried about safety & environment/saving gas</p>
<p>Not at our house. Both S’s have had trucks since they turned 16. There is no way S1 could do his job without a vehicle. S2 graduates in May. The type of employment he’ll be pursuing will require a vehicle too.</p>
<p>ordinarylives - Major metropolitan areas are not the only places with decent to good public transit. The area that my grad school in is big enough to be called a city but only just, and the adjoining areas are very suburban. However, the community has a lot of students/workers so there is an adequate demand for public transit to make most places that you need to go regularly accessible by bus. Some places aren’t though, which can be a pain.</p>
<p>I’m 16. I have a car. I kind of wish I didn’t, because it’s old and junky and it breaks a lot, and then I have to pay for repairs. And also it costs about $60 to fill the tank every 3 weeks or so. But I live in a sprawled out suburb and it’s the only way for me to get to school and work so I don’t really have a choice. I do enjoy driving it, but it’s just so expensive.</p>
<p>Major metro areas aren’t the only walkable, transit-friendly communities. Mid-sized towns with a real downtown (like Bloomington, IN) can be great as well.</p>
<p>It’s the unsustainable, car-dependent, sprawled-out exurbia that we’re rejecting.</p>
<p>Hmm… maybe it’s just because my options for areas with comprehensive public transit are limited in SE Michigan (… um… is it just Ann Arbor?), but I feel like if I could afford to live in a major metropolitan area or similar for the public transport, I could probably much better afford to live in my suburb with my car. As it happens, I live in the suburb with the car in large part because that is more affordable than living someplace that is nice enough to actually have public transport… living in the city isn’t any cheaper than owning a car!</p>
<p>Even when I think of smaller towns with walkable areas (maybe Royal Oak or similar? not sure), they are DAMNED expensive, too… getting more and more affordable the further away you get from the desirable, swanky walkable part. Those places are really expensive, too. </p>
<p>I pay $100 a month in gas and less than $800 a year in insurance on my car, that is much more affordable than paying a few hundred extra monthly in rent.</p>
<p>Ema, I can’t think of an affordable and public transport friendly place in Michigan. Except maybe some of the college towns (not AA).</p>
<p>I would live to live in a city where no car is needed. I live in a rural area…maybe my next home will be one where no car is needed.</p>
<p>What’s going to happen to our aging population when they can’t drive & density is too low for efficient public transportation?</p>
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