Young adults appear to be delaying vehicle purchases for a variety of reasons.
Micheline Maynard has written extensively about cars during her distinguished journalism career.
Now she’s heading an innovative research project that is exploring why so many people are abandoning them.
Maynard, a former New York Times Detroit bureau chief, and Rick Meier, a University of Toronto graduate student, have started Curbing Cars, a website that reports on the various ways people are getting around without driving.
“I heard a new expression in Cambridge, Massachusetts the other day: ‘driving light,’ ” said Maynard, who lives in Ann Arbor. “You’re not necessarily giving up your car completely, just using alternative methods of transportation when it’s more efficient.”
Maynard and Meier are attempting to finance their research and an upcoming electronic book through a $10,000 Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is an online funding mechanism in which contributors can support art, film, books and other creative projects.
She and Meier are at the cusp of what appears to be major shift in mobility. People, especially in developed countries, are driving less and relying more on public transportation, bicycles and their own two feet.
Car-sharing services such as Zipcar, are taking off. And bike-sharing programs are proliferating in larges cities and on college campuses.
Maynard acknowledges that many don’t accept that notion that the automobile is becoming less important in peoples’ lives. But she says the numbers confirm it.
“These are measurable statistics,” she told me. “We’ve got data showing that driving is down.”
A new University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute study found that by most measures, driving miles peaked in the United States in 2004, several years before the Great Recession and high gas prices hijacked consumers’ wallets.
Michael Sivak, who authored the study, said the decline in miles driven is mainly a result of more telecommuting, increased use of public transportation, people relocating to cities and a decline in young drivers.
A separate study by Sivak found that only 28.1 percent of U.S. 16-year-olds got driver’s licenses in 2008, down from 46.2 percent in 1983.
Young adults appear to be delaying vehicle purchases for a variety of reasons, including high college student loan debt and less interest in owning cars. Many are moving to large cities where they rely on public transportation.
How less driving will affect auto industry, which fuels Michigan’s economy, is unclear.
Although auto sales have risen dramatically since the recession, Maynard says the long-term annual sales trend might not rise above the current level of about 15 million vehicles.
She said she’s also noticed that automakers are selling more upscale trucks and luxury vehicles to older, wealthier buyers who are living the suburbs and aren’t taking the bus.
“The fascinating thing will be to see how the automakers get their arms around this and respond to it,” she said.
Email Rick Haglund at haglund.rick@gmail.com