Crains Chicago Business Article - "Carless is the New Cool"
Meet Will Sharp, 31 years old, suburbanite and new dad. Also, he's carless. One in four Chicago households has no vehicle, double the number from 2000. Other data show Millennials are going without cars -- some, like Mr. Sharp, by choice. Read about it in Crain's.
Is Will a Chainlinker?
Millennials forgoing car ownership
July 30, 2012
Photo by: Erik Unger
Will Sharp is your typical suburbanite. The Barrington resident is married with a 10-month-old son and commutes 40 miles every day to his retail job in Lincoln Park.
Except he does it without a car.
Mr. Sharp, 31, moved to the Chicago area in 2009 from New York, where he and his wife, Rebecca, found car ownership both unaffordable and impractical. Now, he says, he could buy one, but rather than making monthly car payments and paying for gas, tolls and parking, he prefers saving the money for a down payment on a house one day.
“We're renting at the moment, and it's basically a decision of car ownership versus home ownership,” he says. So he relies on a combination of the Metra commuter train, the Chicago Transit Authority, friends' and relatives' cars, the occasional rental—and his own two feet. “I walk five miles a day. That's the only exercise I get as a new father.”
Among millennials, the love affair with the automobile is turning chilly. For previous generations, car ownership was a rite of passage that often coincided with receiving a driver's license at age 16. The equation was simple: wheels equal freedom. But because of philosophical and practical concerns, fewer in this recession-socked generation are driving their own vehicles. They're also enabled by the growth of rental outfits such as Cambridge, Mass.-based ZipCar Inc. and Chicago nonprofit I-Go Car Sharing and, for those who've moved back home, mom and dad.
After about 50 minutes on the train, Mr. Sharp arrives at Clybourn Avenue and walks a mile to his job. Photos by Erik Unger
One in four households within the city limits has no vehicle, according to 2010 U.S. Census information, compared with less than 10 percent of households across the country. That's nearly double the 14 percent of Chicago households that were carless in 2000.
CAR OWNERSHIP DECLINING
Nationally, the average annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by people ages 16 to 34 dropped 23 percent, to 7,900 from 10,300, between 2001 and 2009, according to the federal government's National Household Travel Survey.
Today, only 22 percent of drivers are 20-somethings or teenagers, down from a third in 1983, according to a 2011 study by the University of Michigan. Further, more than half of all drivers in 1983 were under age 40, but today that number has fallen to less than 40 percent, declining faster than this age cohort's share of the U.S. population.
Liz Granger, 25, grew up in Omaha, Neb., smack in the middle of car culture. She got her license at 16 and drove until she went to Northwestern University in 2005. Since graduating, she has spent time in Uganda on a Fulbright scholarship, walking everywhere, and now commutes via bike from her Pilsen apartment to an internship and job as a yoga instructor in the Loop.
Ms. Granger figures that, at most, just 20 percent of her friends from college own cars. One of her former roommates received a car for graduation and eventually sent it back to her parents' after dealing with the headaches of city driving.
“Down the road, I will need a car,” Ms. Granger says, “but I'm happy to delay the purchase as long as possible.” She says that cargo biking gear, which allows riders to haul loads of groceries and other goods on their bikes, plus car-sharing services, are delaying that purchase even longer.
“We have this American idea about cars as freedom,” says Jason Rothstein, a 40-year-old West Town resident who gave up his car eight years ago, after his third driver's-side mirror was knocked off in a six-week span. “But a car comes with a lot of financial responsibility and other burdens.”
Mr. Rothstein, a public health project manager at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of “Carless in Chicago,” mostly takes public transportation, rides his bike or walks to get around. Trips may take longer, but he says he is free of credit card debt today largely because of his choice. He calculates that owning a car cost him $7,600 a year. According to the U.S. Census, Chicagoans who ride public transit to work rather than drive save $1,016 a month, more than the $843 national average.
“Particularly when you're at the age where you're trying to make ends meet, it makes a substantial difference in your quality of life,” Mr. Rothstein says. “It may be the difference between affording tuition or taking advantage of all the great restaurants in Chicago or taking a vacation.”
There are consequences, to be sure. Mr. Sharp says his wife, a stay-at-home mother, sometimes feels trapped within a walking-distance radius. And carless people acknowledge that shopping runs require extra planning and can be a pain. But they also generally say inconveniences are far outweighed by the benefits of saving money and the environment.
This mindset shift is affecting city planning and local businesses.
Gabe Klein, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, predicts that bike traffic in Chicago will quadruple in the next five years, partly because of an ambitious citywide program that calls for 10,000 bike-share bicycles and 100 miles of protected bike lanes by 2020.
Meanwhile I-Go has grown by nearly 25 percent this year in terms of members, usage and number of cars. CEO Sharon Feigon says her company has 15,000 to 20,000 members who share a fleet of about 300 cars.
The members' ages range widely, she says, but tend to skew toward people in their 30s who have committed to long-term city living. I-Go research shows that members pay about $3,500 annually for the membership, public transportation passes and the occasional taxi, whereas car owners spend at least twice that.
Scott Klocksin, 29, a Wilmette native who spent a year and a half as a New York bike messenger, says one of the biggest gains of going carless isn't financial.
“If you bike, you establish a sense of connection between the locales of your daily life that isn't possible via other modes of transport,” he says. “It's you, 180 degrees of peripheral vision and the streetscape—and it fundamentally changes your relationship with the city.”
From this week's Business of Life
Read more: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20120728/ISSUE03/307289990/m...
Stay on top of Chicago business with our free daily e-newsletters
Views: 1254
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on
-
31 is a millennial?
-
Permalink Reply by Matt on
-
What can I tell you? I am not a dad, but I can see how a trip to the maternity ward can leave one feeling as though the 2BR apartment is not going to cut it, especially not in the long run. Some people compare the size, newness, taxes, school and price, and it's a no-brainer -- off to the burbs. Also, what everyone else said: there is a lot about this guy we don't know.
-
Permalink Reply by jennifer james on
-
I think Crain's wanted to show a more typical reader how a suburban worker is carless. He seems pretty every day and still lives without a car. I think this is actually a great way to begin showing how people live carlessly. Less an urban stereotype than what people in the suburbs wold consider a very relatable person. I like that they mention that the stay and home parent feels a little tied to her walking zone. Being carless with a child has so many up sides but it's good to show the nuances of the experience.
Being carless in the suburbs with a small child and being a stay at home parent is kind of the holy grail of making a really different choice. Taking the bus, train or walking in Chicago with a baby can really cut down on your isolation. It takes no time to get to a nice cafe or a museum or just out to a park and a bench with other parents. Imagine trying to get to a nice little cafe walking or even on your bike with a small baby in the suburbs. That lady has some car free chops!
-
Permalink Reply by Matt M. 18.5KM on
-
Car ownership in the city is truly not a necessity. I simply don't understand why employers require we own "reliable transportation" when public transportation and Zipcar (or equivalents) are readily available.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael J Blane on
-
I've been happily carfree, by choice, for more than 20 years.
-
Permalink Reply by Michelle S on
-
It's great that Will Sharp and his wife are making it work without a car. I'm also in awe of anyone with a baby, in the suburbs, without a car.
As to the city part of his commute, Will is Exhibit A on why we need bike share, to get him that last mile from the Armitage/Elston Metra stop to the Halsted/Clybourn retail area. There's no bus service for him, and it's a long, boring (IMHO) walk. Maybe he enjoys the additional exercise, but it will be great for him to have an alternative to use if he wishes.
-
Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on
-
I think it's cool that the reporter followed Will all the way to work.
Weirdest comment on that article (quoted in full, attributed to Mark E):
This is unheard of. We need to sell more cars, not live without cars. I drive 100 miles a day from home to work and back. I know some people that drive 200 miles a day. Just think of all the gasoline we use. Everyone makes money off this kind of lifestyle.I don't think I understand their point. Are they saying we should keep buying cars and gasoline because it supports jobs?
-
-
Since you called it the Armitage/Elston Metra stop, I had to think about which station you're referring to. It's the Clybourn Station, which is not even close to Clybourn Avenue.
By the way, that station happens to be the number 1 reported theft location on the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry (well, it was last year when I ran the numbers).
Michelle Stenzel said:As to the city part of his commute, Will is Exhibit A on why we need bike share, to get him that last mile from the Armitage/Elston Metra stop to the Halsted/Clybourn retail area. There's no bus service for him, and it's a long, boring (IMHO) walk. Maybe he enjoys the additional exercise, but it will be great for him to have an alternative to use if he wishes.
-
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on
-
I live in the SW burbs, 40 miles out. It's because my wife's family is within 5 miles and I have a three month old. The public transportation (Metra especially) is built to bring people into downtown during the work day. Going against that grain is pretty difficult.
We drove much more when we lived in the city.
-
Permalink Reply by Richard on
-
I'm a proud father of a four year old and my family is car-less by choice. When we moved to Chicago I used a walkscore.com to find a pedestrian friendly area. After my wife and I got bikes -- and a kid seat -- our world view changed.
Car-free living can be done even with children.
Matt Gilbert said:What can I tell you? I am not a dad, but I can see how a trip to the maternity ward can leave one feeling as though the 2BR apartment is not going to cut it, especially not in the long run. Some people compare the size, newness, taxes, school and price, and it's a no-brainer -- off to the burbs. Also, what everyone else said: there is a lot about this guy we don't know.
-
-
Maybe generations are a fake idea.
Clint H said:I think it depends on who you ask and how sharply you want to draw the line. I've heard GenX described as including anyone born between 1963 and 1983, which would put this guy on the tail end of that category. Others put it between 1965 and 1985 to accommodate 20 years of post-war Boomers. I've heard some describe a distinction between GenX, GenY, and the Millennials, with this guy falling into GenY space. Either way, this guy's in a borderland. I personally think that turning 19 in 2000 makes him a bit old to be a Millennial, but it's really a matter of which age cohort he identifies with the most.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
Groups
-
Chicagoland Beer Explora…
203 members
-
Wednesday Night for Mort…
1 member
-
Great Lakes Ultra Cycling
270 members
-
Major Taylor Internation…
1 member
-
Critical Mass discussion
261 members
© 2008-2016 The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.
Powered by
