Do you own a car? Yeah, didn't think so.
It's a growing trend for millennials to unshackle themselves from owning a vehicle in favor of relying on public transportation and so called "active transport," such as walking, biking, or even skating where we need to go.
New insight comes from Samuel I. Schwartz aka "Gridlock Sam," one of the "leading transportation engineers in the U.S., a former New York City traffic commissioner and the creator of the word 'gridlock.'"
Let's be frank: no matter how popular ride share apps or any of that gets, the movement in favor of alternate transport is understood to be more of a metropolitan phenomenon.
But the fact remains: "auto manufacturers are selling a half-million fewer cars in 2014 versus 10 years prior, and nearly one in 10 American households is now car-free."
Part of what makes it viable for us as a generation is that we've mainly chosen not to commute outside of New York City, making owning an automobile much less necessary.
Not only that, we're disinclined to put up with the same garbage we got used to in our youth. Schwartz credits this mostly to the millennial generation, who were "driven through more traffic jams, more often, longer, and farther, than any generation in history."
Many people live in the suburbs and take the train into town, but if you're living in white-picket-fence-land, you probably require your own vehicle for everywhere else you have to travel besides work. Not urban dwellers.
According to Schwartz, "Getting out of the car and walking, cycling or using a well-run transportation system, he says, is affordable and better for people's physical and mental health, while keeping them connected to their community."
Sound interesting? Check out Schwartz's new book Street Smart: The Rise of Cities and the Fall of Cars.
Check out The 7 Subway Line Extension Officially Opened on Manhattan’s West Side.
[via Winnipeg Free Press] [Feature Image Courtesy: Wordpress]