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Driving in the US is making a big comeback
- brudgers 11y agoI suspect that stimulus spending on "shovel ready" transportation infrastructure also plays a role. Many of those projects are coming online...at least on the roads I use and are making travel easier. Also, cars have gotten better.
- ZanyProgrammer 11y agoOr...the less partisan and probably answer: The economy has just gotten better and people can afford to drive more.
- ojbyrne 11y agoOr, more specifically, the cost of gasoline has gone down.
- alistairSH 11y agoBetter economy, cheaper gasoline, but most importantly... numbers that weren't adjusted for population growth.
- nostrademons 11y agoThe second chart is population-adjusted and still shows a sharp uptick, it's just not an all-time high.
- brudgers 11y agoMy answer is factual. There was stimulus spending on transportation projects. Those projects have been coming online in recent years. It's only under premises such as that more driving is a good thing or that the stimulus actually worked that my statement would be partisan. I did not imply such.
- revelation 11y agoI suspect that crude oil at a price of $40 plays a role. At $2 a gallon, as another poster pointed out, it's not so much more people driving, it's just the same people driving more.
- AndyMcConachie 11y agoOr it is not. http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/peak-car-us-driving-america-vmt-vox/417795/ http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/peak-car-us-driving-a...
- jusben1369 11y agoIsn't that addressed in there?
- dogma1138 11y agoHow many of those are Uber drivers I wonder... ;)
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Spooky23 11y agoBefore you make your population adjustments, compare the 1997 workforce population to today's. It hasn't grown with population. Also, the workforce is less well compensated than it was. I recall from my days in high school and college in the 90s a retail manager at the mall could afford a decent used car on their salary. Now, the car costs double and the salary is 10-20% more.
- adventured 11y agoA retail manager at a mall today can afford a 2012 Camry for $12,000 to $13,000 at 40-50k miles (or a few other competing vehicles). They're handing out record low rates on car loans, to pretty much anybody with an income. ~$268 per month, four year car payment $40,000 salary / $2,400 per month disposable income http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Retail_Manager/Salary http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Retail_Manager/Salar...
- jusben1369 11y agoThere is no doubt that cheaper gasoline is helping. But right now in the US we seem blind to the actual strength of the economy. Car sales are about to have one of their best years ever. We had such a bad downturn coupled with bad economic news from Europe then China. Add to that a Republican primary that thrives off a negative economic message and you can see powerful forces at work to drive home a message that the economy here is still pretty bad or hanging in the balance. Data like this is "surprising" mainly in that context.
- knieveltech 11y agoSurging economic indicators and cash in working people's pockets (or jobs for that matter) don't exactly correlate.
- intopieces 11y agoWhether driving in the US is making a comeback or not, the lower price of fuel makes this an excellent time to raise the fuel tax, which hasn't seen an increase in 25 years [0]. Given the decrepit state of the US infrastructure [1], the funds will need to be gathered soon if we wish to avoid the deleterious effects of neglect. [0]http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/5DDB79194769C2BF852574D5003C28D5?OpenDocument http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/5DDB791947... [1]http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/ http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
- marcoperaza 11y agoThankfully that has about 0% chance of getting through Congress. The last thing working people need is a tax increase on essential goods.
- wpietri 11y agoGiven the huge drop in fuel prices, working people will still experience it as a net gain. If our legislators were smarter, they would have put a racheting carbon tax in when prices were high, set to be triggered by declines. Alas.
- pyre 11y agoWhere to your propose that the money for infrastructure repair/maintenance come from?
- marcoperaza 11y agoThe government is collecting plenty of revenue already. If the need for increased infrastructure spending is pressing, there's plenty of waste and pork-barrel to cut to make room.
- intopieces 11y agoBut by cutting spending elsewhere and putting it towards roads, we're still hiding the cost of driving and subsidizing the use of cars. We've already bailed out the Highway Trust Fund for at least $65B. It's a hole we'll keep digging -- a cycle of demand inducement that begets budget shortfalls that begets general tax hikes -- unless we re-align the tax with usage. I'm asking for people who use the roads to pay their fair share; you're asking the government to collect money from everyone so the road-users can keep believing roads are self-funding. When the users are forced to confront the true cost, they'll demand better solutions. In short: we should both cut wasteful spending and re-align the gas tax with infrastructure expenditures, because the bailout from the general fund is pork itself!
- shmerl 11y agoPublic transportation needs to improve. Especially railroads. They are simply lacking in a lot of places.
- arbuge 11y agoUrban sprawl cities designed with cars in mind (eg. Dallas, Atlanta, etc.) will not be easy to convert over to public transportation.
- spikels 11y agoThis is why electric self-driving cars are the future. Door to door service using existing road infrastructure much more efficiently. Most public transit systems are so poorly run many will not survive.
- npunt 11y agoExactly. Passenger rail (as much as I love it) is about to be outdated. Expensive rail projects that amortize costs over >20 years are at risk of never paying off, because in that timeframe self-driving cars will take over as the preferred method of transport, because they: * utilize existing infrastructure (roads) * get you 100% of the way from point A to B vs having to travel additional distance from stations * can be gradually introduced with purchasers being those who directly benefit vs big projects dealing with nimbys, budgets, and right-of-way issues where costs-benefits aren't as aligned * are a drop-in replacement that offer significant improvements in both safety and driver time * open new business models of cars as service vs as product * allow commuting from farther away, reducing housing shortages * offer lower labor costs than buses, so cities may control their own fleets or subsidize private fleets for low income riders ... among many more benefits. Dense urban cores will still find value in subways that do not take up outdoor space, but for the most part, mid-century cities are going to be doing a lot of ripping up excess roads/lanes and parking lots, and making things both denser and greener.
- bkor 11y ago
- quanticle 11y agoHow much of this is simple demographics? As the Baby Boomers started retiring, driving saw a downturn. Now, as the Millenials are starting to hit their thirties and starting families, driving is ticking back up again.