Generation Y less likely to drive

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America's Generation Y not driven to drive
ReutersBy Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters – Sun, Jul 1, 2012

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Electronic Devices a Leading Distraction for Teen Drivers (ABC News)

Electronic Devices a Leading Distraction for Teen Drivers (ABC News)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To Shoshana Gurian-Sherman, driving seemed like a huge hassle.

"Part of it was laziness," the 23-year-old Minneapolis resident recalled. "I didn't really want to put in the effort to learn how to drive ... I knew how to ride the buses, so it was not necessary.

"And the other thing was, it was just scary, the idea of being in charge of a vehicle that potentially could kill me or other people," Gurian-Sherman said.

She eventually got her license at 18, two years later than she could have, after her parents threatened not to pay for college if she did not learn to drive, a skill they considered to be important.

[Related: Teen guilty in landmark texting-while-driving case]

In her reluctance to drive or own a car, Gurian-Sherman is typical of a certain segment of Generation Y, the coveted marketing demographic encompassing the 80 million U.S. residents between the ages of 16 and 34.

Bigger than the post-World War Two baby-boom generation but without the middle-class expansion that drove the earlier group's consumer habits, Generation Y includes an increasing number of people for whom driving is less an American rite of passage than an unnecessary chore.

"That moment of realizing that you're a grown-up - for my generation, that was when you got your driver's license or car," said Tony Dudzik, a senior policy analyst of the Frontier Group, a California-based think tank that has studied this phenomenon. "For young people now, that moment comes when you get your first cellphone."

U.S. residents started driving less around the turn of the 21st century, and young people have propelled this trend, according to the federal government's National Household Travel Survey.

From 2001 to 2009, the average annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by people ages 16-34 dropped 23 percent, from 10,300 to 7,900, the survey found. Gen Y-ers, also known as Millennials, tend to ride bicycles, take public transit and rely on virtual media.

More than a quarter of Millennials - 26 percent - lacked a driver's license in 2010, up 5 percentage points from 2000, the Federal Highway Administration reported.

THE HIGH COST OF DRIVING

At the same time, older people are driving more, researchers at the University of Michigan found. In 2008, those age 70 and older made up the largest group of drivers on the road, more than 10 percent, which was slightly higher than those in their 40s or 50s.

The Michigan researchers offered a few reasons why some younger drivers hesitate to get behind the wheel: the high cost of owning, fueling and maintaining a car and the convenience of electronic communication.

[Related: When does a smartphone make you dumb?]

The Frontier Group's Dudzik suggested a related cause: computer and smartphone applications that make taking public transportation easier, with minute-by-minute tracking of buses and trains and simple online maps and travel directions.

Whether Gen Y-ers will eventually drive more than they do now will affect transportation infrastructure costs, Dudzik said.

Bikes and car-sharing services make it easier to avoid the expense of owning a fossil-fueled vehicle. Environmental concerns are another reason, said David Jacobs of the Tombras Group, a marketing firm based in Knoxville, Tennessee.

"It's not the main reason, but it is a compelling reason," Jacobs said.

More central is the group's general anxiety over finances and the economy, he said.

"They're shouldering higher mortgage costs, rent; their insurance costs are higher than previous generation's," Jacobs said. "And all that's happening after a couple of recessions, so they've really never, as young adults, seen a very healthy, stable economy. They're worried about a lot of things."

To sell cars or anything else to Generation Y, he said, "you have to talk to them at their level and make them interested and show them you are a valuable, reputable company with a quality product and you do care about the environment, the economy."

That fits with Gurian-Sherman's thoughts on the environment in her decision not to own a car: "I don't know if I consider myself an environmentalist, but I care about the impact that I have." (Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Interesting trend.

[DarkArk]

I'm 22 now and I still haven't learned how to drive. I've never had a massive need to, and I've never had the money to afford a car. The bus system in Seattle isn't perfect but it's decent enough.

So I can't say that I'm surprised. Also factor in the increase in construction of things like light rail, which has seen a resurgence in the last decade. I'd say it's likely that fewer and fewer Americans will drive, especially as urban living continues to become more desirable.

[Saxtonite]

Legal bullshit is another reason too. For example, there were relatively new Illinois laws which said you could not drive at night or drive with other teenagers for ages 16-18. There were other hassles which are annoying for many too. I'd rather buy a Moped (lower than 50cc does not require a license, and removes a lot of other restrictions) or light motorcycles than go through newer legal issues and good old fashioned sodomization by legal fees, insurance and other problems. I live in a large city and can take public transport like the article mentions; and I bike. Also there are annonying delays with me getting the license for random family-based reasons.

EDIT: I am 22 now BTW. Whenever I get the license, hopefully during summer I'd mainly use it for suburban driving or something. My grandmother interestingly enough did not learn how to drive until she had my mother at 40 or so...

EDIT 2: I wonder how much money would be spent on insurance and gas if I drove a car (i dont need to get a car, just insurance and gas upgrades and probably a share of maintenance costs).

[FireNexus]

Quit driving over two years ago (I'm 27) in favor of a bicycle. A new, decent road bike costs less than a thousand dollars, and the maintenance costs are really low. At that, it turned my pudge into transportation, rather than making me even more sedentary like driving did.

[ArmorPierce]

I hear another thing giving a boost to public transportation is the rise of smartphones and ipads and stuff that gives people something to do while sitting down waiting for their stop.

[JME2]

I will rent or borrow a car if needed, but it's easier to walk or rely on public transportation (as much as I hate San Francisco's MUNI). Even when my finances improve, I'm not really sure about investing in an automobile.

[LadyTevar]

Must be nice for all you folks who live in a place with decent public transportation. I have to wonder if this article only interviewed people in DC, NYC, or other large cities where public transportation and safe bike routes are everywhere.

Now, go ask someone living in the more rural areas, where its' 5 miles to town, or the nearest movie theater is in the next town over, or even further, down the Interstate to the City. Gen Y or not, in suburbs, in rural areas, and in pretty much everywhere there is no access to Public Transportation, a Drivers License is the difference between going out and staying home.

[Darth Fanboy]

Not to mention the extreme temperatures that come with a more seasonal climate. That 100 degree 100% humidity bike ride in Jul can be a blizzard that closes roads six months later.

[fordlltwm]

Must be nice for all you folks who live in a place with decent public transportation. I have to wonder if this article only interviewed people in DC, NYC, or other large cities where public transportation and safe bike routes are everywhere.

Now, go ask someone living in the more rural areas, where its' 5 miles to town, or the nearest movie theater is in the next town over, or even further, down the Interstate to the City. Gen Y or not, in suburbs, in rural areas, and in pretty much everywhere there is no access to Public Transportation, a Drivers License is the difference between going out and staying home.

I was wondering the same. Since in Britain most countryside dwellers have licences whilst a lot of my friends from the cities and bigger towns don't bother. Just catch a bus I'm told, whilst possible I dislike a journey taking 3 times as long as it should because the bus zig-zags to and from every depopulated village on the way to it's destination

[Eulogy]

Use of public transportation is rising, but it still has a lot of hurdles to go before it can hope to compete with the car. There is in fact an accurate article about why more people don't ride the bus:

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/MassTransit.HTM

[Zaune]

I was wondering the same. Since in Britain most countryside dwellers have licences whilst a lot of my friends from the cities and bigger towns don't bother. Just catch a bus I'm told, whilst possible I dislike a journey taking 3 times as long as it should because the bus zig-zags to and from every depopulated village on the way to it's destination

Correction. Most countryside dwellers who can afford to run a car have licenses. It was just under £1.40 a litre last time I looked, or about US$8 a gallon. Which I would be fine with, up to a point, if we had trains that didn't cost an arm and a leg and buses that didn't vanish after 6:30PM.

[Vehrec]

Must be nice for all you folks who live in a place with decent public transportation. I have to wonder if this article only interviewed people in DC, NYC, or other large cities where public transportation and safe bike routes are everywhere.

Now, go ask someone living in the more rural areas, where its' 5 miles to town, or the nearest movie theater is in the next town over, or even further, down the Interstate to the City. Gen Y or not, in suburbs, in rural areas, and in pretty much everywhere there is no access to Public Transportation, a Drivers License is the difference between going out and staying home.

Hi Tev. You know me, but you probably don't know that I didn't even get a learner's permit in the great state of Ohio until I was 24 years young. And yes, I live in a rural area with a 20 minute drive to the nearest movie theater. Yes, I was staying home or car-pooling for my entire teenage life. SD.net helped, so thank you all you wonderful people, for helping me not to drive.

[fordlltwm]

I was wondering the same. Since in Britain most countryside dwellers have licences whilst a lot of my friends from the cities and bigger towns don't bother. Just catch a bus I'm told, whilst possible I dislike a journey taking 3 times as long as it should because the bus zig-zags to and from every depopulated village on the way to it's destination

Correction. Most countryside dwellers who can afford to run a car have licenses. It was just under £1.40 a litre last time I looked, or about US$8 a gallon. Which I would be fine with, up to a point, if we had trains that didn't cost an arm and a leg and buses that didn't vanish after 6:30PM.

I'd say even those who can't afford to drive have licences, it's very rare for someone my age to not have the ability if not the means to drive.

Plus buses can be really expensive. To get to the nearest City in one journey costs £5. If the bus stops at the next town over and I have to catch a second bus it costs 3.40 to 67% of the journey, then a further £3 to do the last 9 miles, which is just a little bit nuts given that a rover ticket costs 6.60 and can get you from the top of Anglesey to Aberystwyth a distance of 110 miles compared to the 30 odd that comes to £6.40.

But conversely some places make bus travel cheap, i.e Shrewsbury to Ludlow cost £3.00 and is 30 miles as the above example. There seems to be no logic to it other than more bus companies in Shropshire compared to Gwynedd.

[TronPaul]

I can attest to the fact that electronic notifications and tracking of public transit really help its usage. I live in Chicago and knowing how long the bus will take is just a text message, or (if you have a nice shiny phone) the next 5+ expected buses via a mobile web page. The L (elevated train track) on average has 10 minutes between trains so not many tend to worry about planning around it. All I need now is to get a bike to get between the places where the bus doesn't stop near or is more trouble than it's worth to wait for.

[Zaune]

I'd say even those who can't afford to drive have licences, it's very rare for someone my age to not have the ability if not the means to drive.

I shan't be so rude as to ask how old you are, but I'm 26 and know quite a few people my age who just never bothered with lessons; a full tank of petrol would have wiped out half my first ever wage cheque at the tender age of 19, and it's only got worse since, so why waste hundreds of pounds training for a qualification you'll never use?

Plus buses can be really expensive. To get to the nearest City in one journey costs £5. If the bus stops at the next town over and I have to catch a second bus it costs 3.40 to 67% of the journey, then a further £3 to do the last 9 miles, which is just a little bit nuts given that a rover ticket costs 6.60 and can get you from the top of Anglesey to Aberystwyth a distance of 110 miles compared to the 30 odd that comes to £6.40.

But conversely some places make bus travel cheap, i.e Shrewsbury to Ludlow cost £3.00 and is 30 miles as the above example. There seems to be no logic to it other than more bus companies in Shropshire compared to Gwynedd.

Yeah, there's a lot of weird pricing plans like that. Back when I was living in Dorset, a return ticket from Wimborne to Bournemouth cost £5.20, but a Day Rider pass for unlimited travel across about half the country only cost a fiver!

And Dorset was a rare exception to the other problem I have with British buses, namely the fact they cease to exist some time after 6:30PM. Want to go to the cinema on Saturday night, or work a shift pattern other than 9 to 5, and can't drive for whatever reason? That'll be twenty quid each way for a taxi.

[fordlltwm]

I'm about to turn 21, but if you've not got your own transport your screwed. There's one bus a week that stops within a mile of where I live when I'm not at Uni.

For most people its a case of no bus on the day your supposed to sign tough. I can think of one person my age who doesn't have a license and that was more to do with family issues when she was 17. She keeps meaning to save enough to take lessons so as she isn't stuck with the bus a day that goes somewhere near her dad's place.

But then our county really puts buses on for tourists hence the strange routes because it gives them scenery to gawk at. Sadly true

[Minischoles]

I actually have a licence, but owning a car right now would simply be too expensive - not just the insurance, but all the assorted other costs that go with it. I actually get paid a fairly decent amount as well (well above minimum wage), so I can't imagine that anyone whose working on minimum wage would even think about owning a car.

Luckily buses aren't too expensive in my area, it costs about £60 a month to get an unlimited bus journey ticket, and I think having a phone/kindle definitely contributes to why I don't mind a journey that's a bit longer in the mornings - and they run essentially all day. First bus is around 6am in the morning and last bus is about 11pm at night - and they run pretty much every 10 minutes from 7am - 8pm.

[Ralin]

That would be me. I'm 28, no license, barely know how to drive and am in kind of afraid to do so. I've spent most of my adult life on college campuses, relying on family and cabs when I absolutely need to get somewhere that I can't get via bus, and now that I'm out of school I'm planning to live in a city with good transportation.

I've also never been able to afford a car and I move back and forth across the Pacific too much to keep one if I could. Because I'm damned well not getting a car from Louisiana to Hawai'i and China.

[UnderAGreySky]

In my time in the UK I could have gotten a car - a used car and insurance was affordable - but chose not to do so. Found a place from where I could walk to work and then used public transport elsewhere. I did rent a car a few times I needed to - moving stuff around, going to places not directly accessible by train - but that was only six times in 18 months.

Cars can be expensive in running costs if you're the sole occupant.

From my town to London I could do:
Train:
- 90 pounds return trip + 10 pounds intra-London travel
- Read / sleep / listen to music / look outside the window
- Talk on the phone whenever you want
- Loo breaks whenever you want.

Car:
- Drive 600 miles (300 each way) at least; assuming an realistic 10 miles/litre that gives 60 litres; at 1.3 quid/litre fuel that's 80 pounds for just the fuel.
- Spend 5 hours each way staring at the road
- Can't talk on the phone, only listen to music and the satnav
- "Next rest area in 22 miles...."

So for a single person it's not worth it. But add a co-passenger and suddenly... you don't have to drive all the time, you can have conversation and your fuel costs get halved. No wonder I took the train, but my colleague and his wife always drove!

[Saxtonite]

Now, go ask someone living in the more rural areas, where its' 5 miles to town, or the nearest movie theater is in the next town over, or even further, down the Interstate to the City. Gen Y or not, in suburbs, in rural areas, and in pretty much everywhere there is no access to Public Transportation, a Drivers License is the difference between going out and staying home.

I know someone who grew up in Western Kentucky and now lives in Appalachian Tennessee. He does not have a license either and is basically a hikikiomori a lot (well, was from when he moved 2 years ago to getting a job with a comic guy and flea market).

Also in the college I was at (suburban community college) there was a noticeable clique of people from the anime club and whatnot who did not have licenses for random reasons so they bummed rides from people or picked each other up or had family members provide rides etc. Or they spend lots of time on those damn suburban buses (lol, 2-3 bus transfers). And as I have personal experience from those times I went into the suburbs using the bus, suburban bus systems (in Chicago Metro Area at least) suck dick.

As in unmarked stops where the bus stops (no sign, no platform, nothing!), buses which stop running at 4pm or run only 4 times a day, etc. And I know, this is only for the far out extensions of the suburban bus - the core lines are better but still annoying. But as you mention, there's exurban areas where it's like a mile walk to a bus stop - more likely in "Sunbelt" cities.

I hear another thing giving a boost to public transportation is the rise of smartphones and ipads and stuff that gives people something to do while sitting down waiting for their stop.

They used to read newspapers and comics I believe then. Also, books. I remember, for example Manga readership in Japan was partially supported by people reading on trains or whatnot.

Not to mention the extreme temperatures that come with a more seasonal climate. That 100 degree 100% humidity bike ride in Jul can be a blizzard that closes roads six months later.

Ugh. Yes. You also either buy a new bike or 'configure' your bike for winter (getting donut tires, lubing up your bike, etc) if you end up planning on biking in deep snow or blizzard conditions. Imagine that is a racer bike you have. Better to buy a 'workhorse' bike or "fatbike" for winter.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

My car gave up the ghost just before I first moved to SF, but was still used to driving to get places and they hadn't installed the Nextbus displays at bus stops yet so you never knew when the bus was going to come. As a result, I rented a lot of Zipcars, which was still only about half the cost of owning my own.* Now I haven't used a Zipcar in months because biking, walking, and MUNI or BART (buses and light rail for non-SF people) can get me all the places I need to go. If I'm unfamiliar with the route I just punch the destination into my Android phone. I even take transit instead of cabs when I travel as long as my phone is charged and the surroundings don't inspire me to purchase life insurance. I doubt I would own a car even without the technological conveniences because it's simply too expensive, but they sure make life without one easier.

*You never really think about how damn expensive those things are until you no longer have to pay for gas, insurance, licensing, parking, tickets, maintenance, repairs, and that's not even to mention the monthly payment (or setting aside funds for a new one if the current is paid off)

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Must be nice for all you folks who live in a place with decent public transportation. I have to wonder if this article only interviewed people in DC, NYC, or other large cities where public transportation and safe bike routes are everywhere.

Now, go ask someone living in the more rural areas, where its' 5 miles to town, or the nearest movie theater is in the next town over, or even further, down the Interstate to the City. Gen Y or not, in suburbs, in rural areas, and in pretty much everywhere there is no access to Public Transportation, a Drivers License is the difference between going out and staying home.

Rural areas can still benefit from car sharing. I doubt a company like Zipcar whose business model is hourly rentals would be profitable, but a scheme like RelayRides or Getaround where people rent cars from owners that are not using them at the time could completely eliminate the need to own a car for some rural inhabitants, and defray the costs for others.

[Starglider]

Not owning a car is a personal finance and convenience decision, but not being able to drive is a career limiting move. You are significantly restricting your employment options (reachable areas, range from house, ease of getting interviews, even ease of finding a new house when moving), you are making it harder to get to training and off-site meetings and you are losing the ability to quickly respond to a lot of emergencies. I have many many times had to be at a random point in the UK as fast as possible, sometimes for business and sometimes for family, sometimes late at night and often far from any plausible public transport. You can't visit friends unless they're near public transport, you can't network as effectively, you can't save money by buying food in bulk from the cash and carry, your holiday options are limited, you have no way to move heavy items to events etc.

As such the people I know who skipped learning to drive in their late teens all regret it.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Yeah, Starglider is right. While there are various advantages to minimizing how much you use an automobile, being capable of using one and owning one are in combination a very good life strategy for career opportunities, networking, etc. It would have taken me close to four hours to get from my uni to the business I was doing my senior design project at, it was thirty minutes with an automobile; an hour by bus from my house to class, ten minutes by car, and as an engineering student I didn't have an extra two hours a day and you cannot study thermal fluid dynamics on the bus. Let alone with the state line involved meaning there were two different bus agencies to get to two consortium classes I took in Oregon.

On the other hand the cost of owning a car is not so great, either. Even a thirty year old clunker like the backup station wagon (estate, for you Brits) I have has, with initial purchase price and heavy maintenance outlays over three years, come out to 50 USD/month--which has included replacement of the engine block, main wiring harness, master brake cylinder, etc. Insurance is only 80/month for two people. Maintenance on my ten year old car has, including repairs from the major accident my roommate got her into, averaged out to about 15/month including oil changes. All of the maintenance I of course do myself except for the aforementioned re-engining which halved engine mileage. Collectively I've determined at my current credit rating that this outlay for automobile maintenance is actually cheaper than an auto loan or new vehicle, so I have no plans to replace these cars as long as parts are available at current costs, since I can do my own maintenance; but I acknowledge that's fairly exceptional and costs would rise steeply if you had to rely upon a mechanic. The insurance, well, considering it's 80/month for two people, you could pay more than that per month for broadband. We DO pay more than that per month for our cellphone service, and a cellphone is manifestly not as useful as a car.

So I'm mixed on the subject because while I want people to drive less and be more sustainable, I also have to acknowledge that for young professionals trying to claw their way up, the value of the car is so overwhelming in our modern society without the vast and sprawling interurban rail networks of the early 20th century, that I and anyone like me is very much in a position to have to own at least one and use it a fair bit.

[Starglider]

On the other hand the cost of owning a car is not so great, either. Even a thirty year old clunker like the backup station wagon (estate, for you Brits) I have has, with initial purchase price and heavy maintenance outlays over three years, come out to 50 USD/month--which has included replacement of the engine block, main wiring harness, master brake cylinder, etc. Insurance is only 80/month for two people.

Agree. Some time ago I spent nearly three years doing fundamental AI research on negligible income. I sold about half of my possessions, talked landlords into delaying rent and begged friends & relatives for leads on a day or two of tech support, just to get a little money in. At the start of this episode the transaxle on my current car failed and was far too expensive to fix. Even given scarce funds, I bought a 1989 Vauxhall and kept it for three years, doing all the maintenance myself based on guides on the Internet. It cost 250 GBP to buy and about 600 GBP a year for tax, insurance and parts (brake pads, duct tape), and it paid for itself several times over in terms of savings from shopping in bulk, fuel being cheaper than trains, being able to move as necessary on short notice, and most importantly being able to get to offices in random small towns (all over the UK) to do a day or two of contracting installing LANs etc. That wreck of a car was actually more valuable to me when I was on less than minimum wage (annualised), than my current car is now (working in finance, mostly on Canary Wharf).

Of course if I was less scrupulous I would have skipped the tax & insurance and probably gotten away with it; just cover numberplates when parked and stay away from sections of motorway/A-road with automated plate recognition. Although in that case I would've also signed up for unemployment benefit etc and had more income in the first place.