14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, the US Public Interest Research Group released a new report saying that, over the past few years, people in United States have taken a liking to cycling and public transit, and have started driving their car less often.
Researchers working with the Group used government-provided data to document the use of cars, bikes and public transit for transportation in several dozen of the country’s major urban areas.
They found that, between the years 2000 and 2007-2011, the number of people using private vehicles to get to work and then back home decreased in 99 of the 100 urban areas for which the government could provide updated data.
Between 2006 – 2011, the number of miles driven by car was reduced in 54 of 74 urban areas, and, between 2005 – 2010, the number or miles people covered using public transit upped in 60 of 98 cities.
As far as biking to and from work is concerned, it appears that the practice is now more common in 85 out of the 100 major cities the researchers have had the chance to study.
“There is a shift away from driving,” Phineas Baxandall, an analyst for the US Public Interest Research Group commented on the outcome of this investigation.
“The cities in this report are home to most of America’s population and are engines of the economy. Instead of expanding new highways, our government leaders should focus on investing in public transit and biking for the future,” he went on to say.
What’s interesting is that the urban areas where researchers documented a newly discovered interest in cycling and public transit were not the ones that were hit the hardest by recession.
“The study found that cities with the largest decreases in driving were not those hit hardest by the recession. On the contrary, the economies of urbanized areas with the largest declines in driving appear to have been less affected by the recession according to unemployment, income and poverty indicators,” the specialists explain on the US Public Interest Research Group’s website.
Hence, it is safe to assume that people are turning to public transit and bikes instead of cars not because they don’t have a choice, but because they wish to.