The latest evidence of the generational shift is a new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Education Fund and the Frontier Group that shows young people born roughly between 1983 and 2000 are continuing to be less car-dependent than their parents even as they age and the economy improves.
Between 2001 and 2009, there was a 23 percent decline in the average number of miles driver by 16- to 24-year-olds, according to the report. Between 2006 and 2009, the share of 16- to 34-year-olds driving to work decreased by 1.5 percent as the share commuting by public transit, bicycle and on foot all increased.
Americans younger than 30 used public transit two to three times more often than people aged 30 to 60, according to a 2014 survey by TransitCenter.