Generational travel patterns in the United States: New insights from eight national travel surveys

Ming Zhang and Yang Li

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2022, vol. 156, issue C, 1-13

Abstract: Millennials’ automobility preferences and choices have attracted widespread attention from academia, policy makers, and business industries. Existing studies, however, have reported mixed findings on whether Millennials differ from their predecessor generations, leading to contradictory conclusions drawn for transportation planning and policy recommendations. This study utilized eight U.S. national travel surveys to construct a panel data that covers a continuous range of ages for persons five years and older for Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. With this unique dataset, the study performed analyses on the trend of daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by an average person from each generation and its subgroups. The study found that Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials shared a three-phased trending pattern of VMT over the life course but exhibited varying levels of daily VMT in different life stages. During adulthood, Millennials have kept their daily VMT consistently lower than that of Generation X by about 3 VMT, or 8%, whereas the younger group of Baby Boomers outdrove the older Millennials at age 28 and after by about 3.5 VMT, or 9% daily. When each generation is considered over its life course, peak-level daily VMT tends to occur at earlier ages for each successive generation. From the multi-level modeling of daily VMT, the study identified generation-related group effects and estimated VMT elasticities with respect to person age, driving licensure, vehicle ownership, household size, and gasoline price-adjusted income. The study’s findings on the direction and size of VMT influences associated with the five planning or policy variables did not support the speculation that Millennials would match or surpass Baby Boomers and Generation X in their future daily VMT trajectory. Public policies should be designed to nurture the shifting trend of reduced automobility from the older to the younger generations.

Keywords: Baby boomers; Generation X; Millennials; Vehicle miles traveled (VMT); Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS); National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2021.12.002

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