To consolidate, disseminate, and gather information concerning the 710 expansion into our San Rafael neighborhood and into our surrounding neighborhoods. If you have an item that you would like posted on this blog, please e-mail the item to Peggy Drouet at pdrouet@earthlink.net
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Millennials Love Transit Most, Boomers Still Stuck on Cars
A new study shows generations bucking their upbringings, with sheltered Millennials choosing the bus.
By Sarah Goodyear, September 18, 2014
In 2013, transit ridership in the United States hit a 50-year high, with the nation’s transit systems logging 10.7 billion rides. A new survey from the new transportation-focused philanthropy TransitCenter, seeks to discover who those riders are and what motivates them to get on the trains, buses, and streetcars of American cities.
The answer, according to Who’s On Board: 2014 Mobility Attitudes Survey?
Transit riders are disproportionately young, members of ethnic
minorities, and—most important of all—they live in relatively dense
neighborhoods where high-quality transit is available. The most
important factor for them in choosing transit is travel time and
reliability, not fancier amenities such as wifi.
The survey, which gathered data from 11,842 respondents in 46
metropolitan areas, found that the generational divide over transit that
many observers have noted over the past few years is real: People under
30 are far more likely to ride public transportation and to express
positive feelings about it than older people, regardless of what part of
the country they live in or what kind of neighborhood they grew up in.
(TransitCenter)The
survey looked at five geographical categories: the South, the
West/Southwest, the West Coast, the Midwest, and what it classified as
“traditional cities,” which included cities with “mature and widely used
transit systems”—San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and
Washington, D.C.
In the “traditional cities,” 43 percent of people under 30 reported
riding transit at least once a week, compared with 12 percent of those
between 30 and 60 and just 9 percent of those over 60. Even in regions
with much lower overall ridership, the trend of young people using
transit more held true: 20 percent of those under 30 in the South say
they ride transit once a week, compared with 10 percent of those 30 to
60 and 2 percent of those over 60.
The preference for transit also showed up when those under 30 had
kids, suggesting that the trend isn’t just about being childfree and
easy. Across all income brackets, parents under 30 used transit
significantly more than those between 30 and 60. Forty-five percent of
the under-30 parent group with incomes above $75,000 said they use
transit weekly, compared with 16 percent of parents between 30 and 60 in
the same income bracket.
Interestingly,
these same young people reported being raised in disproportionately
autocentric environments: They were less likely to have been encouraged
to walk or bike by their families as children or to have had easy access
to transit, and were more likely to have gotten the message from
parents that transit was unsafe (as well as the message from peers that
it was uncool).
Still, they expressed disproportionately transit-friendly attitudes,
even as their elders are continuing to reject the transit option. In the
words of the researchers, “The Millennial generation seems to be
defying its sheltered, suburban upbringing by delaying the acquisition
of a driver’s license and choosing transit. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers, who
grew up using transit and were encouraged to do so, are defying their
upbringing by avoiding transit now.”
(TransitCenter)
Another
key finding is that many respondents say they would like to live in a
different kind of neighborhood than the one where they do now. Nearly
two-thirds, or 58 percent, of respondents said they would like to live
in neighborhood with a mixture of residential, business, and shopping,
rather than a strictly residential neighborhood. That didn’t mean that
respondents wanted to leave the suburbs for the city, though—that figure
combines those with preferences for urban, suburban, and small-town
mixed-use neighborhoods.
Only 39 percent of those surveyed are living in such a neighborhood
now, suggesting a mismatch between available housing stock and people’s
desires. The neighborhood most often chosen as the “ideal” by
respondents, with 28 percent favoring it, was a mixed-use suburban
neighborhood.
“The findings indicate that attitudes among young people suggest
there’s going to be strong and growing support for transit in the
decades to come, across the country,” says David Bragdon, executive
director of TransitCenter. “This study shows there’s a lot of demand for
transit and our local officials need to step up and meet that demand.”
Other key points in the survey:
Respondents were five times more likely to take transit if they were offered pre-tax commuting benefits by their employers.
Transit use varied widely by race and ethnicity. Thirty-nine
percent of African Americans reported using transit at least once per
week, as did 37 percent of Hispanics; 32 percent of American Indians and
Alaskan natives; 18 percent of Asian and South Pacific respondents; and
just 10 percent of whites.
In general, transit use decreased as income increased, but
respondents in the highest bracket—$150,000 and up—reported riding
transit more than any other group except those in the lowest bracket,
who make less than $25,000.
Concern for the environment ranked last among reasons to use transit across all age groups.