6 ms·

> young people already opt to not own cars. Really? Any study on this matter?

by usaphp 12y ago

melling 12y ago
Yes. This has been discussed on the Internet quite a bit. Not sure if exact reason has been determined. I'm not young but I sold my car years ago because it's expensive, inconvenient, and seldom used where I now live on the US east coast. Here's one article, you can Google hundreds more. http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/5-reasons-young-people-are-not-buying-cars-or-getting-their-drivers-license/#!Rl3Lx http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/5-reasons-young-people-are...
- Touche 12y ago
  I would love to see an actual study on this. There are only a few cities in the U.S. where public transportation is good enough to get by without one and while those are typically big cities they aren't big enough to compensate for the number of cities with poor public transportation.
  - cylinder 12y ago
    I came from a car-dependent city to NYC, which is one of those cities where being car-free is less of a hassle than owning a car. However, I still want a car. No, I do not want to have one car for each person in my family. No, I do not want a massive SUV. No, I don't want to commute by car (hate traffic). I want a simple hatchback or wagon that I can use on weekends to haul stuff, I want to be able to drive to the beach or the mountains whenever I want. Renting / sharing isn't the answer. ZipCar sucks, to be frank, and is too expensive. Renting from the majors in NYC is a complete nightmare and is prohibitively expensive. No, I'm not going to use Uber or Lyft to get my groceries or go to Home Depot or to take a road trip. This is why cars will never disappear. The solution is self-driving cars. Cars are a menace when operated by humans. Reducing the danger, traffic problems, and parking issue with cars is the answer, not removing them entirely (although I do support banning them in dense urban areas and business districts -- people can always park on the outskirts and take transit in).
    - Thlom 12y ago
      If it's not too long you could try a (electric) cargobike to get groceries etc. :) But yes, cars are necessary sometimes. We need a solution for people who only need a car a couple of times a month or less. A fleet of self driving cars you can rent perhaps? Like a taxi service without the driver.
- danielweber 12y ago
  and seldom used where I now live on the US east coast. Seldom used? Even New York City has lots of cars. I think people are assuming everyone else is just like them. As for universal car-sharing, it starts with the idea that "cars are idle 90% of the time" and ignores the fact that 80% of people want to use them at the same time: on their morning and evening commutes.
  - melling 12y ago
    I live in New Jersey. Sure, lots of people spend $400/month to park so they can drive on the weekends. Anyway, so we can stop talking in generalities, here are some numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_households_without_a_car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_h... It would appear that many people do live without cars so there is an untapped market.
elicash 12y ago
When I googled, this PDF was the first result: http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportation%20%26%20the%20New%20Generation%20vUS_0.pdf http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportatio...
ams6110 12y ago
I believe this is skewed to young people in urban areas, but I think this has always been the case. I lived in Chicago when I was a "young person" 25 years ago and I did own a car because I moved there with it. I soon wanted to get rid of it and had I stayed there longer I would have. In that setting it just wasn't worth the hassle and expense.

> young people already opt to not own cars. Really? Any study on this matter?

by usaphp 12y ago

> young people already opt to not own cars. Really? Any study on this matter?

Yes. This has been discussed on the Internet quite a bit. Not sure if exact reason has been determined. I'm not young but I sold my car years ago because it's expensive, inconvenient, and seldom used where I now live on the US east coast. Here's one article, you can Google hundreds more. http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/5-reasons-young-people-are-not-buying-cars-or-getting-their-drivers-license/#!Rl3Lx http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/5-reasons-young-people-are...

Touche 12y ago
I would love to see an actual study on this. There are only a few cities in the U.S. where public transportation is good enough to get by without one and while those are typically big cities they aren't big enough to compensate for the number of cities with poor public transportation.
- cylinder 12y ago
  I came from a car-dependent city to NYC, which is one of those cities where being car-free is less of a hassle than owning a car. However, I still want a car. No, I do not want to have one car for each person in my family. No, I do not want a massive SUV. No, I don't want to commute by car (hate traffic). I want a simple hatchback or wagon that I can use on weekends to haul stuff, I want to be able to drive to the beach or the mountains whenever I want. Renting / sharing isn't the answer. ZipCar sucks, to be frank, and is too expensive. Renting from the majors in NYC is a complete nightmare and is prohibitively expensive. No, I'm not going to use Uber or Lyft to get my groceries or go to Home Depot or to take a road trip. This is why cars will never disappear. The solution is self-driving cars. Cars are a menace when operated by humans. Reducing the danger, traffic problems, and parking issue with cars is the answer, not removing them entirely (although I do support banning them in dense urban areas and business districts -- people can always park on the outskirts and take transit in).
  - Thlom 12y ago
    If it's not too long you could try a (electric) cargobike to get groceries etc. :) But yes, cars are necessary sometimes. We need a solution for people who only need a car a couple of times a month or less. A fleet of self driving cars you can rent perhaps? Like a taxi service without the driver.
danielweber 12y ago
and seldom used where I now live on the US east coast. Seldom used? Even New York City has lots of cars. I think people are assuming everyone else is just like them. As for universal car-sharing, it starts with the idea that "cars are idle 90% of the time" and ignores the fact that 80% of people want to use them at the same time: on their morning and evening commutes.
- melling 12y ago
  I live in New Jersey. Sure, lots of people spend $400/month to park so they can drive on the weekends. Anyway, so we can stop talking in generalities, here are some numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_households_without_a_car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_h... It would appear that many people do live without cars so there is an untapped market.

elicash 12y ago

When I googled, this PDF was the first result: http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportation%20%26%20the%20New%20Generation%20vUS_0.pdf http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportatio...

ams6110 12y ago

I believe this is skewed to young people in urban areas, but I think this has always been the case. I lived in Chicago when I was a "young person" 25 years ago and I did own a car because I moved there with it. I soon wanted to get rid of it and had I stayed there longer I would have. In that setting it just wasn't worth the hassle and expense.