[sustran] Re: The end of the American Model?

[Sujit Patwardhan]

Unfortunately they aren't on the verge of dying - but busy selling the "car
driven mobility dream" (which is actually more of a mirage) to the aspiring
developing world that has been desperately trying to copy the "American way
of life". See the image below:

[image: Inline image 1]


--
Sujit



On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 12:00 PM, <jfdoulet at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Quite interesting indeed!
>
> In France, we have also noticed that car use is on the decrease in some
> major urban centers. I don't even speak about downtown Paris where car
> ownership is twice as low as in the suburbs.
>
> Knowing european car companies from the inside, I think that they are
> aware of the shift you have documented about the US: car is less a product
> of desire for a larger amount of consumers. This is why they are know
> trying to integrate mobility services in their business models.
>
> If car as we know it may be on the verge of dying, mobility still has a
> briliant future...
>
> Jean-Francois
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cornie Huizenga <cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org>
> Sender: sustran-discuss-bounces+jfdoulet=yahoo.com at list.jca.apc.org
> Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:04:31
> To: Global 'South' Sustainable Transport<sustran-discuss at list.jca.apc.org>
> Subject: [sustran] The end of the American Model?
>
> “Unfortunately for car companies,” Jordan Weissmann
> noted<
> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/03/why-dont-young-americans-buy-cars/255001/
> >at
> *TheAtlantic.com* a couple weeks back, “today's teens and twenty-somethings
> don't seem all that interested in buying a set of wheels. They're not even
> particularly keen on driving.”
>
> Now a major new
> report<
> http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportation%20%26%20the%20New%20Generation%20vUS_0.pdf
> >from
> Benjamin Davis and Tony Dutzik at the Frontier Group and Phineas
> Baxandall, at the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, documents this unprecedented
> trend across a wide variety of indicators.
>
> Their two big findings about young people and driving:
>
>   - The average annual number of vehicle miles traveled by young people
>   (16 to 34-year-olds) in the U.S. decreased by 23 percent between 2001 and
>   2009, falling from 10,300 miles per capita to just 7,900 miles per capita
>   in 2009.
>   - The share of 14 to 34-year-olds without a driver’s license increased
>   by 5 percentage points, rising from 21 percent in 2000 to 26 percent in
>   2010, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
>
>  Young people are also making more use of transit, bikes, and foot power to
> get around. In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24 percent more bike trips
> than they took in 2001. They walked to their destinations 16 percent more
> often, while their passenger miles on transit jumped by 40 percent.
>
> Part of the reason for this shift is financial. The report calculates the
> average cost of owning and operating a car as north of $8,700 dollars a
> year, and that was before gasoline passed $4.00 per gallon. In the wake of
> the financial crisis, many underemployed young people have decided that
> they either can’t afford a car or would rather spend their money on other
> things. The report cites a Zipcar/KRC Research
> survey<http://ir.zipcar.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=553203>,
> which found that 80 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds stated that the high cost
> of gasoline, parking, and maintenance made owning a car difficult.
>
> But money doesn’t explain everything. Sixteen to 34-year-olds in households
> with incomes of more than $70,000 per year are increasingly choosing not to
> drive as well, according to the report. They have increased their use of
> public transit by 100 percent, biking by 122 percent, and walking by 37
> percent.
>
> The shift away from the car is part and parcel of a new way of life being
> embraced by young Americans, which places less emphasis on big cars or big
> houses as status symbols or life's essentials. In my book *The Great
> Reset*<
> http://books.google.com/books?id=UTx3omChqPIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Great+Reset&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RHeCT-iLCuHc0QHxg6z-Bw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Great%20Reset&f=false
> >
> *, *I called it the New Normal. “Whether it’s because they don’t want them,
> can’t afford them, or see them as a symbol of waste and environmental
> abuse,” I wrote, “more and more people are ditching their cars and taking
> public transit or moving to more walkable neighborhoods where they can get
> by without them or by occasionally using a rental car or Zipcar.”
>
> A study<
> http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/news/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2009226>by
> J.D. Power and Associates, most well-known for their quality rankings
> of
> cars, confirms what young people tell me: After analyzing hundreds of
> thousands of online conversations on everything from car blogs to Twitter
> and Facebook, the study found that teens and young people in their early
> twenties have increasingly negative perceptions “regarding the necessity of
> and desire to have cars.”
>
> "There’s a cultural change taking place," John Casesa, a veteran auto
> industry analyst
> told<
> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/automobiles/autospecial2/22CHANGE.html?pagewanted=all
> >the
> *New York Times *in 2009.  “It’s partly because of the severe economic
> contraction. But younger consumers are viewing an automobile with a
> jaundiced eye. They don’t view the car the way their parents did, and they
> don’t have the money that their parents did.”
>
> A survey<
> http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/a0806b00465fb7babfd0bfce195c5fb4/smart_growth_comm_survey_results_2011.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
> >by
> the National Association of Realtors conducted in March 2011 revealed
> that 62 percent of people ages 18-29 said they would prefer to live in a
> communities with a mix of single family homes, condos and apartments,
> nearby retail shops, restaurants, cafes and bars, as well as workplaces,
> libraries, and schools served by public transportation.  A separate 2011
> Urban
> Land Institute<
> http://www.uli.org/%7E/media/ResearchAndPublications/Report/GenY-Report-20110510.ashx
> >survey
> found that nearly two-thirds of 18 to 32-year-olds polled preferred
> to live in walkable communities.
>
> Younger Americans are also using technology to substitute for driving,
> connecting with friends and family online, substituting Facebook, Twitter,
> Skype, or FaceTime interactions for in-person visits and using online
> shopping and e-commerce in place of driving to and from grocery and retail
> stores, the report notes.
>
> For generations of Americans, car ownership was an almost mandatory rite of
> passage—a symbol of freedom and independence. For more and more young
> people today, a car is a burden they no longer wish to carry.
>
> *Top image: Rikard Stadler<
> http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-226678p1.html>
> /Shutterstock.com <http://www.shutterstock.com/>*
>  Keywords: smart growth<
> http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/smart-growth/>,
> driving <http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/driving/>,
> Cars<http://www.theatlanticcities.com/topics/cars/>
>  <http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/richard-florida/>
>
> Richard Florida is Senior Editor at *The Atlantic* and Director of the
> Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of
> Management. He is a frequent speaker to communities, business and
> professional organizations, and founder of the Creative Class Group, whose
> current client list can be found
> here<http://www.creativeclass.com/clients/current_clients>.
> All posts » <http://www.theatlanticcities.com/authors/richard-florida/>
>
>
> --
> Cornie Huizenga
> Joint Convener
> Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport
> Mobile: +86 13901949332
> cornie.huizenga at slocatpartnership.org
> www.slocat.net
> --------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
> --------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ================================================================
> SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion of people-centred,
> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing countries
> (the 'Global South').
>



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*It's no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.
*

- J. Krishnamurti

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Sujit Patwardhan
patwardhan.sujit at gmail.com
sujit at parisar.org <sujitjp at gmail.com>
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