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Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

economist.com

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Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#11

Post by galangalalgol »

The article specifies rich, maybe beacuse, at least in the US, only the rich can afford to live in places where cars aren't strictly necessary? Some choose to live elsewhere anyway, for scenery or privacy, but the poor or even median 60% can't choose an area with a 15 minute walk to necessities. The Seattle walkability map on hn recently highlighted that fairly well I think?

I also wonder if it is truly cars or just driving that is out of favor? If so, will full self drive fix that if and when it ever arrives?

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#12

Post by andrepd »

TillE wrote: post #4

If you live in anything like a real city and don't absolutely need a car to commute, the misery of street parking alone vastly outweighs any kind of occasional benefit. But it's nice to have a license so you can rent a car if you really want to.

It's misery to you, the driver, and misery to someone else. It's depressing to think the sheer area of land in cities that is dedicated to (free) parking. That the space of what could easily be a nice park or a playground is instead used to store a dozen cars. Not to mentioned the economic value wasted.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#13

Post by zppln »

I got my license just in time to be able to drive my pregnant wife to hospital to give birth, aged 33. Before that I didn't really need one. Now I love my car and the life I want to live absolutely involve owning one (I don't necessarily love the ownership part though...). I suspect a lot of young people will eventually discover the same.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#14

Post by doikor »

mellosouls wrote: post #7

I can't read this due to the paywall, but taking the title as representative, and assuming the evidence to back the claim up is in the article (which I doubt): It's irrelevant whether or not the young are "falling out of love" with cars, cars are essential in the rich world (at least in my country, the UK) outside of a few urban areas well-served by public transport infrastructure - and non-EVs at that. There's a hug…

You can fall out of “love” (or never fall in “love” with them in the first place) with cars and own one.

I’ve never really wanted to own a car but I did when I lived in a small town as there wasn’t really any other option. As soon as I moved to a place where I could live comfortably without one I got rid of it and haven’t had any regrets about that decision.

Older generations (my parent for example) truly love their cars and never could imagine themselves living without one. Same for my grandmother and she lives right next to all the services she uses and mostly walks to them but still she has to own a car.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#15

Post by dsfyu404ed »

galangalalgol wrote: post #11

The article specifies rich, maybe beacuse, at least in the US, only the rich can afford to live in places where cars aren't strictly necessary? Some choose to live elsewhere anyway, for scenery or privacy, but the poor or even median 60% can't choose an area with a 15 minute walk to necessities. The Seattle walkability map on hn recently highlighted that fairly well I think? I also wonder if it is truly cars or just…

The rhetoric and trends around transportation seem to be reflective of the increasing bifurcation (both economically and socially) of society in general.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#16

Post by andrepd »

jna_sh wrote: post #6
JustARandomGuy wrote: post #3

Millennial: same feeling here. When I talk to people of my parents generation they always talk about how cars let them roam about and give them freedom. I never felt the same way, and I think a large part of that is that I grew up with the Internet; I could always AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) my friends or use ICQ. I was always connected even during an era of dialup. With the always-on functionality of modern phones,…

Cars have always felt more restrictive to me. I don’t want to have to worry about parking or road access or fuel when I’m visiting somewhere.

Cars are a viable option only on low-density rural areas + long distance trips. Short distance you can do by biking (e-bikes are the modern evolution of the old two-stroke scooter) or walking. In high density public transportation is massively faster, cheaper, and more efficient that personal automobile.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#17

Post by wildrhythms »

jna_sh wrote: post #6
JustARandomGuy wrote: post #3

Millennial: same feeling here. When I talk to people of my parents generation they always talk about how cars let them roam about and give them freedom. I never felt the same way, and I think a large part of that is that I grew up with the Internet; I could always AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) my friends or use ICQ. I was always connected even during an era of dialup. With the always-on functionality of modern phones,…

Cars have always felt more restrictive to me. I don’t want to have to worry about parking or road access or fuel when I’m visiting somewhere.

Indeed, the dread of having to park somewhere, especially street parking, or in some hideous paid parking lot or scary parking deck, was always a huge turn-off of driving places. It's so much nicer to be able to take public transit and not have to worry about that.

Re: Throughout the rich world, the young are falling out of love with cars

#19

Post by galangalalgol »

TillE wrote: post #4

If you live in anything like a real city and don't absolutely need a car to commute, the misery of street parking alone vastly outweighs any kind of occasional benefit. But it's nice to have a license so you can rent a car if you really want to.

What is a real city? I live in one of 20 biggest in the US, but even #2 LA is pretty hard to get around without a car. My experience in traveling has been that places where carless transportation is easy, are places I can only afford to visit, not live.
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