Driving is dropping in the US

[spuwho]

According the the US PIRG studies show that after 60 continuous years of growth, driving is declining.

www.wnyc.org has the story:
http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/transportation-nation/2013/may/14/driving-declining-us/





America's "driving boom" is over. So says a study by U.S. Public Interest Group, which found that after six decades of steady increases in drivership, the trend has reversed.

The study says the turning point came in 2004, when miles driven per capita dropped for the first time since the end of World War II. It's been dropping ever since. Total miles driven by Americans has been declining since 2007. (See chart above.)

As Baby Boomers retire from the ranks of commuters, they're being replaced by 16 to 34 year-olds, who drive about 25 percent less than they did in 2001 â€"a greater decline in driving than any other age group. Another study found that the percentage of young people with a driver's license has been dropping since the early 1980's.

That's partly because traffic congestion has been slowing commutes since the early 90s. And it's because young people are more likely to use mass transit and live in walkable neighborhoods.

The report notes that, "the driving boom during the second half of the 20th century was fueled by low gas prices, rapid suburbanization, and an ever-increasing number of women commuters entering the workforce," and concludes that "the number of miles driven annually will be far fewer in the future than if Baby Boom trends had continued." In one projection of future trends, the report says, "driving won’t ever regain its 2007 peak during the range of the study, which extends to 2040."

[I-10east]

IMO most of the driving decline have to do with the economy moreso than a green generation of hippies rebelling against the automobile.

[I-10east]

^^^Look at the overall vehicle miles travelled, around the 2008 recession. Believe me I'm not trying to make this political, I'm just saying with the economy,  alot of people can't afford the financial burdens of maintaining a car with insurance, payments, upkeep etc.

[Overstreet]

^^^Look at the overall vehicle miles travelled, around the 2008 recession. Believe me I'm not trying to make this political, I'm just saying with the economy,  alot of people can't afford the financial burdens of maintaining a car with insurance, payments, upkeep etc.

Maybe...........But the people that really want to live in the cities,  in those walkable communities, are the younger set. Us older baby boomers, the hippies,  tend to live out and commute. For most of us we ain't walking any where. .......Times change....   Of course once we retire to the RV the trip miles will go up.....With the toy haulers carrying the Harleys so we can drive some more miles.   I'm going to drive 600 miles one way  to walk up a mountain. Still ...... miles driven.

[thelakelander]

^^^Look at the overall vehicle miles travelled, around the 2008 recession. Believe me I'm not trying to make this political, I'm just saying with the economy,  alot of people can't afford the financial burdens of maintaining a car with insurance, payments, upkeep etc.

^Baby Boomers are retiring and millennials don't value spending as much time in their cars as their parent's generation did. Just looking at my own situation, my values are completely different from my parent's. Yet, since they've retired and traveled a bit more, they've even started to question why Florida is so autocentric. One of Jacksonville's major economic issues being overlooked is how do we best react to this information? 

Young People Are Driving Lessâ€"And Not Just Because They're Broke

As a result of decades of car-oriented land use policy, private automobiles are a necessity for many Americans. Even most urban areas of the Sunbeltâ€"Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angelesâ€"are barely traversable by foot, bike or train. Despite this reality, Americans seem to be driving less and returning to cities with a diversity of transit options. (I’ve chosen Philadelphia: We still have trolleys!) Young people, especially, are waiting longer to buy cars, and we’re driving less once we get them. Are norms are changing, or is it just the tough economy? Business Insider posits a strong link between this data and the recession: As unemployment goes up, Americans drive lessâ€"because many of them suddenly don’t have work to drive to, or because they simply can’t afford to maintain a car.

But it's not as simple as that. “For a very long time, the number of vehicle miles traveled has followed economic trends,” says Angie Schmitt, manager of the Streetsblog network. Yet the past few years have defied that logic: “As the economy has picked up speed a little bit in the last couple years, we haven’t seen vehicle miles traveled pick up.”

An April study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that between 2001 and 2009 the average annual vehicle miles traveled by Americans ages 16 to 34 fell by close to a quarter, from 10,300 to 7,900 per capita (four times greater than the drop among all adults), and from 12,800 to 10,700 among those with jobs. At the same time, the amount of bicycling, walking, and public transit ridership increased. And these trends aren’t just among broke millennials. There was an 100 percent increase in public transit usage among young people with incomes over $70,000.

This data corresponds with other studies. Zipcar consistently finds a strong Millennial desire to avoid driving. The National Association of Realtors found that six in ten of surveyed Americans preferred walkable neighborhoods to big houses, with young people leading the way. In 2011, the American Public Transportation Association found that ridership continued to climb, despite draconian budget cuts forcing riders to spend more for less.

The PIRG researchers concluded that this change couldn’t simply be pegged to the economy, but indicates a value shift. Perhaps Millennials have soured not only on the price of cars, gasoline, and upkeepâ€"but also on the hassles of parking, the drudgery of traffic, and the negative effect cars have on urban life, air quality, and personal wellbeing. Or as Michael Hagerty, an auto journalist, wrote for AlterNet last month, many Millennials are “just plain sick of [driving] after spending 16 to 20 years with Suburbans strapped to their asses several hours a day.”

full article: http://www.good.is/posts/young-people-are-driving-less-and-not-just-because-they-re-broke

[Lunican]

Driving also gives the illusion of physical activity while exerting no energy. "How can I be fat? I'm active; I drove all over the city today." Most people struggle to limit their sitting and sleeping to 23.5 hours per day thanks to the car.