Originally Posted by
bragi
This is a pretty persuasive graphic; it's clear that car use is trending slightly downward in virtually every large urban area in the US. But car ownership isn't decreasing at all, so I think it's reasonable to conclude that people are putting in fewer miles, but still committed to cars. I'm left to wonder if the decreased car use is due to people having discovered other, better ways to transport themselves, or because they just can't afford to drive as much as they used to.
A couple other factoids: a) Car use has declined as much or more in cities with higher employment rates and incomes-- compare Detroit and San Antonio, for example). b) Transit, walking, and bike use are up in most of the cities where car use is down.
Putting these figures together, it suggests to me that some well off people in larger cities are still buying cars, but are using them less. IOW, they are becoming what we call carlight.