Dec 3, 2021Transportation Lifestyles: Getting Started with MappingWe should be getting more mileage out of vehicle availability data. Welcome to my annual discussion of transportation lifestyles. This year, instead of exploring national and state trends in vehicle availability, I’m going to share some lessons learned about using the American Community Survey’s vehicle availability data to get a…Transportation12 min read
Dec 7, 2020Transportation Lifestyles: Lessons for the Future from 2006–2019Car-free living increased in the United States in 2019 and then everything changed. Welcome to the annual update of transportation lifestyles, a story of trends culled from the American Community Survey’s (ACS) vehicle availability data. I thought long and hard about whether to bother writing this update. The new data…Transportation13 min read
Dec 9, 2019Are Car-Free and Car-Lite Lifestyles on the Rebound?The annual update of transportation lifestyles in the United States reveals sobering — and surprising — findings. The numbers of households living car-free and car-lite increased in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). If the goal is to promote car-free living, the state of Washington…Cars8 min read
Sep 4, 2019Walking with an Old DogAn old dog teaches a transportation planner one last lesson. This is not a story about the bond between a woman and her dog. I think Mama Sadie liked me well enough during our 13.5 years together. Until her last days, she’d follow me from room to room. Until her…Transportation5 min read
Dec 4, 2018Living Car-Free and Car-Lite in the United States: Brief Update with 2017 DataAmericans continue to say yes to personal vehicles. For the past few years, I’ve tracked Americans’ changing transportation lifestyles through the American Community Survey. I use the admittedly crude, but to the point, measure of household vehicle availability. After growing in popularity during the Great Recession, losses in car-free and…Cities4 min read
Oct 9, 2017Living Car-Free and Car-Lite in the United States: An Update with 2016 DataIt’s over. The boom in car-free and car-lite living that led urbanists and the media to speculate that Americans were letting go of automobiles is over. The boom isn’t just over: all traces of it have been erased. The United States is arguably more car-oriented today than it was in…Urban Planning8 min read
Mar 28, 2017Transportation Lifestyle Trends in the United States, 2006–2015Everyone has a transportation lifestyle: it is simply how a person connects to the world and gets things done. I’ve recently published three essays (links below) that share an easy way to use the American Community Survey (ACS) as a starting point to understanding transportation lifestyles in the United States. …Transportation3 min read
Mar 20, 2017The Transportation Lifestyles of American Families, Part 3: What the Data SaysFamilies in the United States let go of cars in 39 states, 28 of the 50 largest metros, and 25 of their core cities between 2010 and 2015. Only Texas and a handful of metros bucked this trend. For the most part, those who let go of cars did not…Urban Planning12 min read
Mar 2, 2017The Transportation Lifestyles of Single People, Part 2 — Trends: What the Data SaysThe transportation choices of Americans who live alone are important not just because singles make up over one quarter of all households. Between 2010 and 2015, the 32 million one-person households in the United States became both more likely to live car-free and to have multiple cars. (Yes, a one-person…Transportation11 min read
Feb 14, 2017The Transportation Lifestyles of Single People (Part 1): What the Data SaysDebates continue in the United States over what will happen to young adults’ affection for urban living when they form families. Confidence remains, however, about the growing preferences for urban lifestyles, and urban transportation, of Americans before they form families and after their children leave the nest. A closer look…Transportation10 min read
