Survey: Driver’s seat not for youth
University students would prefer public transportation if stronger options were available
College and university students in Southern California would rather not drive, but the current transportation alternatives fall short of meeting their needs, the results of a survey released Friday show.
Results of the mobility survey carried out over the past six months, involved nearly 600 college and university students, many of them working class students with two thirds having annual incomes less than $30,000.
Nearly 70 percent said their personal vehicle best met their needs followed by Uber and Lyft (44 percent).
Public transit and carpooling ranked high for only about one-third of students. However, 68 percent of students said they prefer not driving alone, and 90 percent of those who took the survey said they would consider using public transit instead of
Paul Gonzales, Young people think of transportation in terms of a car, a train, a bus, a scooter, an electric skateboard — they think very differently than their parents.”
Metrolink spokesman
driving if it were reliable, affordable, convenient, and safe.
When asked what features are important for them for transportation, the vast majority (76 percent) cited modes that were environmentally responsible. An even higher percentage (86 percent) wanted transportation to be stress free.
Public transit helps reduce air pollution and also is less stressful than driving, according to numerous studies.
Metrolink option
Civic leaders working to improve and promote public transport and transportation officials expressed optimism over the apparent preference for a more eco-friendly mode of transportation.
Millennials “deserve a transit system that’s been upgraded,” Mayor Pro Tem Marsha McLean said Friday, seizing the chance to reflect on the implications of high-speed rail.
“The money being spent on high-speed rail would be better used to upgrade the infrastructure of the Metrolink and the inner-city rail system,” she said, referring to the countywide Metro service.
Don Henry, president of the Agua Dulce Town Council, reflecting on how millennials embrace ride share services such as Uber, sees problems.
“Uber is probably a great way to get around, but when I hear accounts of people getting kidnapped, I get concerned,” he said, comparing ride sharing to hitchhiking.
“How much different is it? You’re still getting in the car with a stranger,” he said. “But because there’s a sticker on the window, you feel absolutely secure.”
Pleased to see a survey that says millennials weigh a variety of transportation options has prompted a positive response from Metrolink officials who see ridership numbers increasing.
“Transportation planners tend to be of a certain age,” Metrolink spokesman Paul Gonzales said Friday.
Electric skateboard
“They think in terms of their own life experiences. But young people think of transportation in terms of a car, a train, a bus, a scooter, an electric skateboard — they think very differently than their parents,” he said.
“In a prior time, it (transportation) was basically a car, and limited forms of transportation” said Annie Parker, spokeswoman for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. “They have demonstrated by their habits alternatives to getting around.”
Reflecting on a millenial preference for ecofriendly transportation alternatives, Parker pointed out that “high-speed rail
definitely fits in with giving people options. It’s a clean way to travel.”
Student commuters The survey underscored that students, like their parents often do, commute long distances. Forty-five percent commute 41 minutes or longer from home to school.
Results of the online student mobility survey were shared Friday at an unprecedented forum involving college and university student leaders from throughout Southern California, elected officials and transit executives. They focused on the unique mobility needs of millennials and younger people, the next generation of commuters.
The forum was jointly sponsored by Metrolink, Cal State LA.. student leaders and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA. The purpose of this inaugural dialogue is promoting alternatives to driving to help ease traffic and determining how the current and future public transit systems in the region can be designed to attract younger riders and steer them from their cars.
Students were asked an array of questions to gauge how they get to school, work and other destinations and what features would make public transit a better option for them.
Getting them exactly where they need to go quickly ranked high in the data along with reliability, affordability and safety.
Survey results mirror results of studies done on millennials and mobility conducted by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the American Public Transportation Association:
▪ https://www.apta. com/resources/reportsand publications/Documents/ APTA-Millennials-andMobility.pdf
▪ https://uspirg. org/reports/usp/ millennials-motion