Project Summary
The driving habits of US millennials (roughly defined as persons born between 1980-2000, with a current estimated population of 75 million) has been identified as having a dampening effect on automobile ownership and passenger vehicle miles travelled (VMT). There is little available information or research to enable a quantification of this effect, and its potential magnitude in future decades. Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) need more information to be able to model or otherwise estimate the impact of this effect on regional VMT and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for purposes of their Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) under SB 375.
This research will investigate the magnitude of potential GHG and VMT benefits from millennial driving behavior and develop data and information that MPOs can use to estimate the regional GHG and VMT benefits of this demographic shift for purposes of meeting SB 375 targets. The research will involve 4 tasks:
1. A review of existing research and available data sources on the effects of millennial driving behavior on VMT;
2. A discussion of the possible causes of millennial driving behavior and how the built environment may affect this behavior;
3. An estimate of the magnitude of the effect of millennial driving behavior on VMT and GHG emissions;
4. An identification of the kinds of regional policy interventions or SCS strategies that would be effective in encouraging a continuation of this behavior even as millennials age.
