There have been so many articles and reports out recently on the transportation habits and preferences of Millennials, it’s hard to keep track. Fortunately, Paul Goddin at MobilityLab has:
Millennials in Motion was released this month and finds that Millennials are driving less than any prior generation. It also suggests that this generation (people born between 1983 and 2000) is acquiring driving habits that may be more permanent than previously believed.
Millennials are:
– less likely to own a car, and when they do, they drive it less
– more likely to choose active transportation – transit, walking, or biking
– less likely to possess a driver’s license, and more likely to live in walkable, urban places with good transportation options.
Studies linking Millennials with reduced automobile reliance and a preference for active transportation are plentiful. Among them:
A report from Zipcar showing that Millennials would rather give up their car than their cell phone
- A report from the Rockefeller Foundation and Transportation for America stating that the population cohort “would consider moving to another city if it had more and better options for getting around,” and
A report from the American Public Transportation Association indicating that Millennials prefer walkable, multimodal, urban places.
This sort of doesn’t make my news radar, studies and reports or not. Listen, babyboomers, I won’t speak for the Millenials, as I am GenY…. but here’s the thing. It’s not because we’re listening to the very few of you old hippies who are actually doing something about climate change and forsaking the automobile. It’s because we have nothing but contract work and old-enough-to-retire-but-won’t-vote-for-pension-reform-cling-to-their-top-of-payscale-jobs. *We can’t afford to drive. *We can’t afford your rents. *When you die we will dance on your graves and plant pansies in your VW Beetles. In the (interminable) meantime, we will take the Skytrain to work.
Or ride our sweet restored and refurbished 10 speeds.