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Report says younger generation prefers transit to cars

As they flock to urban areas, members of the so-called millennial generation are discovering that they prefer to get around by public transit, biking, or walking instead of driving, according to a report promoted Wednesday at Rutgers University's Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark campuses.

From left, Samantha Buchner, Aanya Khan and Alena Simon. The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG) announced a study that cites data showing a continued reduction of millennials driving to work. ( RON TARVER / Staff Photographer )
From left, Samantha Buchner, Aanya Khan and Alena Simon. The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG) announced a study that cites data showing a continued reduction of millennials driving to work. ( RON TARVER / Staff Photographer )Read more

As they flock to urban areas, members of the so-called millennial generation are discovering that they prefer to get around by public transit, biking, or walking instead of driving, according to a report promoted Wednesday at Rutgers University's Camden, New Brunswick, and Newark campuses.

"It's basically just saying that transportation investment should be used to accommodate us millennials much more, because we're going to be the people using them in the future," said Rutgers-Camden freshman Samantha Buchner, 18, a member of New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, which held the campus news events.

"In my future, I foresee me taking the train or the bus instead of driving to my future job," said Buchner, who said she used to drive as a high school student in Hamilton, N.J., but has not used her car in three months of living on campus and taking PATCO trains or NJ Transit buses. "In the end, I'm getting from Point A to Point B. Does it really matter if I drive myself or if I get driven with 30 other people?"

The report, compiled by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Frontier Group think tank, cites data from the Census Bureau, the AAA Foundation for Highway Safety, and other sources to show that millennials - those aged 18 to 34 - are taking fewer and shorter trips than previous generations, and tend to take public transportation or multiple modes of travel more often.

The report groups the reasons into three categories: socio-economic shifts, lifestyle preferences, and technological changes.

Some socio-economic influences, including the impact of the recession, are temporary, but could have lasting effects, while others, such as persistently high gasoline prices, are likely to continue influencing the decision to drive less, according to the report.

Also likely to continue the push to drive less are lifestyle choices: "Millennials consistently report greater attraction to less driving-intensive lifestyles - urban living, residence in 'walkable' communities, and openness to the use of non-driving modes of transport - than older generations," according to the report.

At the same time, the report reads, millennials are known for being digital natives and rapid adopters of new technology.

The rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, the growing popularity of bike-sharing services in cities, and the ability to rent cars by the hour from services such as Zipcar lessen the need for private car ownership, according to the report.

New applications, such as real-time tracking of bus locations and arrival times, have made public transit more attractive to the millennial generation.

The millennial preference for alternatives to driving should have public policy implications, the report's authors argue: "The time has come for America to rethink its transportation investments to accommodate and encourage the millennial generation in its desire for less car-intensive lifestyles."

Michael Smart, an urban planning professor at Rutgers-New Brunswick, cautioned that the report's data do not necessarily lead to that conclusion. While he supports the policy recommendation for other reasons, the reasons for the decline in driving may only be short-term as economic conditions improve, he said.

"Today's young people are poorer than their parents were when their parents were their age," said Smart, an assistant professor in Rutgers' Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. "It shouldn't really be surprising to us that young people, who are poorer, are just driving less and buying fewer cars."

Economic conditions also help explain why millennials prefer cities, Smart said. Some of the report's trends likely will continue, he said, including a shift to later age for marriage, but lifestyle preferences such as desire to live in a city or live a "green lifestyle" can come in conflict with other realities as people age, he said.

"A lot of times, the decision about transportation is secondary to other decisions in a person's life," he said, giving the example of a parent moving to the suburbs for school reasons, overriding transportation concerns.

PIRG member Moira Cahill said her lifestyle changed when she began attending Rutgers-Camden, in an urban environment far different from Marlton, where she grew up.

Even as a commuter student, Cahill would drive to a PATCO station and take the train to school, just a few blocks from a PATCO stop in downtown Camden. In August, she moved to South Philadelphia, and now often rides her bike across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

"It's much more satisfying. . . . It's great to not have to depend on cars, it's so different living in the city, where everything is accessible via public transportation, you can walk if you want to, you can bike," said Cahill, 21, who is studying political science as an undergraduate and in a dual-degree program pursuing her master's degree in public administration.

"I felt almost chained to my car; you need it to get anywhere" in Marlton, she said. "It's a little freeing to not have that."

Ridership has increased over the last several years for SEPTA, said spokesman Andrew Busch, who attributed part of that to a rise in usage by millennials who have moved into the city.

Data by age was not available, Busch said, because tokens and passes do not carry demographic information, but he noted that customer satisfaction surveys have seen an uptick in responses from the millennial generation.

Busch lauded the trend as a positive sign both for the direct revenue effects of increased ridership and the impact those numbers may have on policymakers, as the report's authors hope.

"That's a very good trend for SEPTA and for mass transit in general - it's a very encouraging sign," he said.