- cross-posted to:
- fuck_cars@lemmy.ml
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- fuck_cars@lemmy.ml
- news@lemmy.world
Gen Z is choosing not to drive::Less Gen Z Americans own a driver’s license than previous generations, according to consulting firm McKinsey.
Gen Z is choosing not to drive::Less Gen Z Americans own a driver’s license than previous generations, according to consulting firm McKinsey.
Are they choosing, or can’t they afford to own a car with insurance and petrol costs going through the roof?
It may be a choice for many. I only got a car recently at age 26, even though I could always afford one (or ask my parents at an earlier age). There’s also a decline in driver’s licenses and the desire to have/drive/maintain a vehicle. Frankly, I’m not sure I’d have one myself if public transportation and sidewalks were reliable in my area.
Yea. I think there’s genuine generational shift here. Which in many ways makes sense. I never heard a negative word from my elders/parents about cars, while I and many of my friends and partners have had one and arrived at fairly critical to down right negative views about cars and driving.
Why it would be generational strikes me again as fairly obvious.
Traffic congestion has only gotten worse over time. The freedom machine ideal of the car has therefore very much faded. And things like traffic jams and the general stress of driving and parking etc are the sorts of thing that are hard to unsee once you’ve seen them. The damage they do in destroying or preventing pedestrian friendly areas is similar. The whole climate thing shifts the value proposal again.
And then there’s the pure generational factor too. Cars are relatively new. It makes sense that they’ve been on some hype curve this whole time, peaking with the boomers. Now it feels obvious we’ve overdone it and relied on them too much. Watching plenty of cars scramble to find a car park or get stuck in traffic, each bearing a single driver/passenger while taking up 5-10 square meters … again hard to unsee.
Once you’ve seen or even lived a life without all that noise, they’re no longer the must haves they were for the past decades.
This also depends on where you live, I’m gen z and I have a license (no car tho, saving money for it) but since I don’t live in a big city a car’s still important to get around (there is a mediumish-sized city ~15 min drive away, but I’m in australia so everything’s real spread out)
Oh for sure. The ideal type curve settles at an appropriate level of usage, and spread out and small towns make sense for cars. Though there is the related view of lower density versus higher density living. Either way though there will be variation and the question is whether the emphasis is well measured.
Yep. My parents offered to buy my gen Z brother a car, and he asked for an e-bike instead. I (a millenial) also choose to not have a car for both environmental reasons and just… not wanting to drive and deal with traffic and car maintenance and whatnot. Thankfully we live in a city whose public transportation’s getting better by day.
My partner and I live in Silicon Valley and it’s cheaper for us to rent a car when we need it than to own one. We’d use it maybe twice a month so rentals just make more sense. We’re moving to San Francisco soon though and at that point we’ll likely never own a car and just transit everywhere.
I saw a 1998 corolla for sale on the street for $5000. The basic buy-in for anything these days it insane. This “market rate” shit needs to die.
Toyota Corollas are really popular though. For a Kia of the same age the previous owner will pay you 5k if you take it off their hands.
You drive a hard bargain, but you have a deal.
The article’s metric seems to be whether or not they own a driver’s license, not a car. So whether or not they can afford to own a car isn’t really a part of this article’s dataset, although they do touch on why they don’t own a car in the article as well.
Definitely a choice, and if transit was more viable without it being stuck in the same car traffic I am sure more people would make the switch.
This is my exact first thought when I read this headline
Or younger people just have a generally negative view towards cars as a primary mode of transport. I realized that ever since I moved to a city, I haven’t needed a car and cars just make cities worse. I can really afford a really nice car, but I have no need for one.
And cost of borrowing
Well, probably a bit of both. For many people, a car isn’t a necessity, so they can choose to not afford it…
I can’t afford one, but I also just don’t want to. I get groceries delivered and can Uber around. I just don’t travel all that much.