Millennials Love Transit Most, Boomers Still Stuck on Cars

[thelakelander]

A new study shows generations bucking their upbringings, with sheltered Millennials choosing the bus.

In 2013, transit ridership in the United States hit a 50-year high, with the nation's transit systems logging 10.7 billion rides. A new survey from the new transportation-focused philanthropy TransitCenter, seeks to discover who those riders are and what motivates them to get on the trains, buses, and streetcars of American cities.

Full article: http://www.citylab.com/commute/2014/09/new-study-millennials-love-transit-most-boomers-still-stuck-on-cars/380380/

[IrvAdams]

Well, that says it all. Descriptive graph indeed.

[Dog Walker]

Maybe people under 30 can't afford cars.   

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Maybe people under 30 can't afford cars.   

Or people over 60 have a hard time reading bus schedules? 

[fsquid]

Maybe people under 30 can't afford cars.   

Or people over 60 have a hard time reading bus schedules? 

both

[Coolyfett]

Is this guy a boomer?

http://members.jacksonville.com/business/columnists/2014-09-19/story/guest-column-do-away-skyway

[spuwho]

Is this guy a boomer?

http://members.jacksonville.com/business/columnists/2014-09-19/story/guest-column-do-away-skyway

Rod Sullivan is the director of the Logistics and Transportation Law Program at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville.

http://www.fcsl.edu/employee/rod-sullivan

His professor rating is here.

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=983067

He argued a case in the Supreme Court.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=52164

Have MJ interview him. See how he made the numbers come out. I would like to see them.

[ronchamblin]

Going south on Roosevelt Blvd, I noticed the thousands of cars entering the city, mostly one person per auto.   Miles of autos ... Gridlock.  The scene could be repeated all around the city ... tens of thousands of autos, paralleling direction, creeping ... some soon to be looking for a parking space. 

Surely there is a viable alternative to the traffic jams on our city's major arteries.  We've widened and added roads, poured more concrete and asphalt, inviting more autos and fuel use.  More pollution, and dependence on fossil fuels. 

How many drivers would use an effective mass transit system "if" it was available? ... a system wherein the wait for pickup would be no more than 20 minutes -- and where the transit time from the suburbs would be half of the current.  An effective mass transit would reduce the need for street parking, and might eliminate the need for parking meters.     

How much fuel would be saved if tens of thousands of autos did not idle in gridlock conditions every day? 

If one were to design mass transit for the Jacksonville scenario, which would one use?  Would there be light rail to areas further out ... streetcars for closer in ... and buses to fill in?   

Governments exist in part to do what the single citizen cannot do.  And this applies to problems concerning traffic and mass transportation.  The long-term and effective solution does not lie in making more roads, wider roads, and more parking lots, but in designing and implementing a mass transit system incorporating the best and most efficient technology available. 

I suspect that at least 70 % of the drivers in the gridlock traffic would on most days make the choice to travel in a light rail or streetcar system if it was available.     

The absurd traffic scenario above has existed in our city for decades.  Only the elected officials have the power and the mechanism to do anything about it.   

[David]

I came across an interesting article that counters these "millennials are choosing city living over the burbs/busses over cars" stories we're seeing a lot of lately.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004084-the-geography-of-aging-why-millennials-are-headed-to-the-suburbs

Green activists hope this parting of the ways between the new generation and the preferences of their parents will prove permanent. The environmental magazine Grist even envisions "a hero generation" that will escape the material trap of suburban living and work that engulfed their parents....

But a close look at migration data reveals that the reality is much more complex. The millennial "flight" from suburbia has not only been vastly over exaggerated, it fails to deal with what may best be seen as differences in preferences correlated with life stages.

We can tell this because we can follow the first group of millennials who are now entering their 30s, and it turns out that they are beginning, like preceding generations, to move to the suburbs

However, as an urban core to the burbs transplant, i'd love to park the car and hop on public transportation if it took me where I needed to go and got me there within a reasonable amount of time.

Sometimes my rush hour commute can take 45 minutes, but usually it's only 20-30. A JTA bus would take several hours to get me to work I'd imagine.

[peestandingup]

Maybe people under 30 can't afford cars.   

Or people over 60 have a hard time reading bus schedules? 

both

Its lots of things (among those). Cost has a lot to do with it, but Yers (and many Xers) generally hate the things that their Boomer parents love. Shopping malls, suburban living, long commutes, cars (for the most part), maintaining huge lawns, being trapped inside a cul de sac w no way out on foot (thats then connected to a highway), not knowing your neighbors, not having a sense of community, etc can all go die in a fire as far as many of them are concerned. Transit just plays along with what the newer gens want & ties into all those things mentioned, basically undoing many of the mistakes the previous gen made (and they made a lot). For the most part, they don't understand us & we don't understand them.

Moving into an urban area & starting there, changing it from the inside out is the method used. There's a reason why if you go to basically any urban areas in the country it's mostly Xers & Yers.

[Rob68]

Im sure some of the disconnect comes from fear. Older generations are fearful of strangers and anyone not of their social standing or moral or whatever. Also this is the south..we are 50 years behind any other city in the north in terms of public transports and design of communities and behind in many other aspects....so we sit and wait for things to progress and hope we can vote competent individuals for leaders..let hope and vote.

[benfranklinbof]

I like the peace and comfort of my car. Mass transit is cool and all but not for me lol I guess I'm too much of an introvert. I'm one of those guys that you see at the self check out lanes because I don't like interacting with cashiers. Ohh I'm also a millennial lol

[Charles Hunter]

Boomer here who would use transit,  if it didn't take 2 or 3 times longer,  and cost more than driving.

[thelakelander]

I like choice. One day it could be by car, another by transit, and another via a bicycle or my own two feet. Unfortunately, Jax doesn't really give you viable options to choose from.

[ronchamblin]

Going south on Roosevelt Blvd, I noticed the thousands of cars entering the city, mostly one person per auto.   Miles of autos ... Gridlock.  The scene could be repeated all around the city ... tens of thousands of autos, paralleling direction, creeping ... some soon to be looking for a parking space. 

Surely there is a viable alternative to the traffic jams on our city's major arteries.  We've widened and added roads, poured more concrete and asphalt, inviting more autos and fuel use.  More pollution, and dependence on fossil fuels. 

How many drivers would use an effective mass transit system "if" it was available? ... a system wherein the wait for pickup would be no more than 20 minutes -- and where the transit time from the suburbs would be half of the current.  An effective mass transit would reduce the need for street parking, and might eliminate the need for parking meters.     

How much fuel would be saved if tens of thousands of autos did not idle in gridlock conditions every day? 

If one were to design mass transit for the Jacksonville scenario, which would one use?  Would there be light rail to areas further out ... streetcars for closer in ... and buses to fill in?   

Governments exist in part to do what the single citizen cannot do.  And this applies to problems concerning traffic and mass transportation.  The long-term and effective solution does not lie in making more roads, wider roads, and more parking lots, but in designing and implementing a mass transit system incorporating the best and most efficient technology available. 

I suspect that at least 70 % of the drivers in the gridlock traffic would on most days make the choice to travel in a light rail or streetcar system if it was available.     

The absurd traffic scenario above has existed in our city for decades.  Only the elected officials have the power and the mechanism to do anything about it.