Millennials and the anti-driving myth

Photo from the Antiplanner

Randal O'Toole on the myth of the anti-car generation:

At least once a week, the Antiplanner encounters an urban plan that assumes that millennials and other young people will be much less inclined to drive cars and own their own homes than Americans have been in the past. But a new study from researchers at UCLA reaches the same conclusions as other researchers reported by the Antiplanner: young people drive less because of the weak economy, not because they prefer to walk and take transit...Similarly, a 2013 survey from PulteGroup, a home builder, finds that the vast majority of people between 18 and 34 aspire to own their own homes. Among those whose incomes are above $50,000, 65 percent say they hope to buy a home in the next year. Similar results were found from a 2012 poll by Better Homes and Gardens Realty and a 2011 survey by the National Association of Home Builders.

...Of course, there is always the possibility that the economy will never recover, in which case home ownership and driving rates will remain down. As the Soviet Union proved, the key to a successful smart-growth policy of dense cities with minimal auto usage is poverty...