Less younger folk driving/owning cars?

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/06/05/f...esent-freedom/

Has all sorts of links to American recent studies on a trend for younger generation not buying/driving cars at the same level as it was 30 years ago...when having a driver's license was considered a rite of passage into adult hood.

Frankly I think the young ones I know:
*can't afford it. They are in debt after finishing university/college
*can't afford it because of higher housing costs. Or if they are still living with parents, they borrow the car occasionally.
*spend their money on technology instead
*other spending priorities

My 26 yr. niece and boyfriend do have a car. I think it's more his. She takes a commuter bus actually from mid-town Toronto to work out in the suburbs. They both avoid using the car whenever they visit family in the core of the city. They live about a 15 min. walk from subway station.

Her brother can't afford a car. He's studying on scholarship in U.S.

Dearie's 2 adult children didn't each have a car until son got one this year only because he has a baby. Each adult child lives near transit in Vancouver and Toronto. They are each in their early 30's.

Or is this phenomena just in big cities?

I suspect this is more of a city thing. My brother and his GF have only 1 car between them. They can afford more, but they live in Chicago and there is no parking -- and they don't mind saving that money, either. I live in BFE and anyone of driving age without a car is stuck bumming rides to get a lot of errands run, especially in the dead of Winter. We don't have public transportation and a lot of things aren't within walking or biking distance for the average person.

My older son just had the car we bought him in 2001 towed away, before he moved into his first house. It just couldn't be fixed anymore. He lives in "close in" suburb, with a bus stop on the corner. His wife has a car (a Honda) that's like 25 years old, it was her grandfather's, hardly driven, and it sat for 3 years while she lived in NYC. This works only because she is a general manager in a restaurant, and works different hours. He takes the bus or rides to work. He is starting a new job on the 5th and will be working from home for while until the company gets an office (he's the first employee in Boston). They don't seem to mind, but I wonder how long it will last. Also, I had the occasion to drive their car 2 weeks ago and it feels terrible to me. But, it's been well maintained, so it should last awhile, as it doesn't have very many miles on it. They are frugal, so it should be interesting. Frugal, but like to go out, etc. DS is talking about a Smart Car, which I think would be terrible in the winter, given they have to park on the street.

This has to be younger people who live in major metro areas. Where I grew up has 0 public transportation and where I live the only real public transportation only services the base and maybe three neighborhoods that are not on base and the only place it goes is to the mall and back to the base or neighborhoods. Come to think of it there are only two cities/metro areas that have decent public transportation in this entire state. That would Charlotte (and you must be in Charlotte it's self to use it) and the Raleigh/Durham area.

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Originally Posted by Koronin

That would Charlotte (and you must be in Charlotte it's self to use it) and the Raleigh/Durham area.

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I would hardly call Raleigh Durham's decent. It's laughable, and barely useable for most people. The bus drivers are also notoriously bad (one killed a pedestrian last night).

I do think younger people are making more of an effort to try to use public transit. Whether it's viable is a whole 'nother issue.

I've heard it's a trend, that young people are driving less. I've heard a) price of gas and b) smart phones as reasons why.
My daughter (17) doesn't have her driver's license yet, which is unusual in rural Midwest where there is no transit at all. But she's definitely an exception.

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Originally Posted by Blueberry

I would hardly call Raleigh Durham's decent. It's laughable, and barely useable for most people. The bus drivers are also notoriously bad (one killed a pedestrian last night).

I do think younger people are making more of an effort to try to use public transit. Whether it's viable is a whole 'nother issue.

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That's the problem. Compared to the rest of the states (except maybe Charlotte) Raleigh/Durham's publican transportation would be decent. Most of the rest of the state it's non existent.

I hate having to have a car. I'd rather put the money for gas/insurance/registration toward something else, like my student loans. Alas, I live in a suburb that turns rural very quickly and has never heard of sidewalks.

I used to live in Cleveland, which had decent public transport, and the area I lived in was extremely walkable. I'd have preferred to have had a car in case of emergencies (and a little more freedom to go to places that public transport can't reach), but I loved that it wasn't a necessity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULnp...eature=g-all-u

We have car2go in Portland. :) definitely for urban center. A new way to go if you only need a car on occasion. Love the concept.

Germans are so forward in thinking!! Electrical grid gets much of its power from reneweable, wind, solar and even tidal power. Germany doesn't get anywhere near the solar that US gets. They are also shutting down all their nukes. And they have lots of smart/green houses which creates more power than it needs...

toll!

This year, car2go, the fee-based car co-op was just introduced in Calgary this year. Company claims 10,000 subscribers. Most of these cars are located and used in the downtown area.

Saskatchewan is Big Truck country. Seems that young people who grew up here just have to have one, but I do see a lot of people using bikes in my part of town, near the university. Public transit here is laughable - if I took the bus to/from work, it would take only about 10 minutes less than walking the same 4.3 k distance. I can ride a bike in half the time.
Cost is definitely a factor. Entry level jobs don't pay what they did back in the 70s and 80s, and housing costs here are sky high.

I don't get the big truck impression among younger folk in Calgary (Alberta). In general, I've more big truck or 4x4's in this city compared to Vancouver or Toronto. If anything, it's the younger generation (post high school) downtown that may be driving the use of the car co-op since they might not be able to afford to buy a car when in debt from student loans,etc.