What Drives Millennials: A Comparison of Vehicle Miles Traveled Between Millennials and Generation X in California

Young adult travel in the United States is changing. Millennials, who make up a substantial part of the U.S. population, are found to own fewer cars per capita and travel by non-motorized modes more often than previous generations at the same stage in life. This study builds on an investigation of millennials and older adults’ travel behavior in California. As part of the study, the authors administered a survey to millennials and members of Generation X who live in California. They model the self-reported vehicle miles traveled (VMT) of the members of the two generations and investigate the impact of several groups of explanatory variables including individual and household sociodemographic characteristics and land use features of the respondent’s residential neighborhood, such as population density, land use mix, and design. The authors also explore the impacts of non-traditional explanatory variables such as the frequency of use of new shared mobility services. The model results confirm that millennials travel less than members of Generation X, even after controlling for the effects of sociodemographic traits and variables related to the stage in life, such as age and income. Larger heterogeneity is found in millennials’ VMT, probably due to the impact of additional factors that cannot be fully captured by controlling for the impact of built environment variables and sociodemographic variables. This research contributes to improving the understanding of the travel behavior of millennials, who represent an influential demographic group for future passenger travel.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADD20 Standing Committee on Social and Economic Factors of Transportation. Alternate title: What Drives Millennials: Comparison of Vehicle Miles Traveled Between Millennials and Generation X in California
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Tiedeman, Kate
  • Circella, Giovanni
  • Alemi, Farzad
  • Berliner, Rosaria M
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age groups; Nonmotorized transportation; Socioeconomic factors; Travel behavior; Vehicle miles of travel
• Geographic Terms: California
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01626357
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-06044
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 23 2017 9:08AM