Young Americans are just not into driving the way their elders are or did at their age. They are less likely to own cars or use cars. The drives they do are shorter. Meanwhile, the bus is looking good to them.
A new report confirms this trend and offers reasons that millennials — we’re talking 14- to 31-year-olds — seem less drawn to the automobile thing. They’re sure not singing car songs as the baby boomers did. No “Little Deuce Coupe,” no “G.T.O.,” no “Hot Rod Lincoln.”
But the report, by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Frontier Group, misses what I see as the biggest factor. Driving is no longer a coast down the great American open road. It’s become a pain and a drag — drag as in “a boring or tiresome thing.”
From 2001 to 2009, the average number of miles driven by 16- to 34-year-olds fell by an astounding 23 percent. There are economic reasons, for sure. The Great Recession whacked millennials especially hard in the job area. They are therefore shorter of cash — and less likely to get married, have kids and pursue other activities […]
There is a reason we’re going to see affecting car sales. Some of it will sneak up on us, but at some point, there’s going to be a ‘bridge gate’ disaster. Infrastructure and highways have been neglected along with bridges. And if it’s not politics, or non ethical work done for profit, or budgetary costs, traveling, whether locally or long distance is going to be a major issue. Here’s a story of multiple failures and major costs in San Francisco and that’s only one city. http://www.nationofchange.org/2014/10/16/millennials-dont-drive-much/ And that’s just bridges. In NYC the average age of sewers is 84 years. Gas mains are 56 years old and 46% of the city’s bridges were built before 1950. https://nycfuture.org/pdf/Caution-Ahead.pdf
“In 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report card, grading various categories of U.S. infrastructure. The average grade was D (Updated to D+ in 2013).” And Congress continues to cut budgets needed for this work, while subsidizing big oil, among other things. In my mind, the election in November is going to go far in determining how we live, what we do and our safety.
After you’ve done due diligence on the candidates, it’s apparent that this election isn’t just about the economy and other important issues, it’s come to being about life or death for you, your family, friends and community. A major role in America’s recovery from the Great Depression was played by the infrastructure plans put into action. Jobs were created, safety was addressed and the future were addressed. And the economy benefitted from people working in those infrastructure jobs because they had more money to spend and paid taxes back into the US Treasury. It’s important to review where money has been purposely misused or ‘disappear’, or could have been used more effectively. Just cutting can be likened to cutting the limb off someone’s body and saying – see, the pain is gone. Once that’s done, you have an individual with body that’s less ambulatory, and have created stress and the potential for further problems that are more costly and ultimately result in the individual’s demise.