A study carried out by University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) professor Michael Sivak revealed that the proposal of automotive ownership has been seeing fewer and fewer adepts ever since the year 2007. His findings indicated that, 9.22 percent of US households were without a vehicle in 2012, whereas in 2007, that number was closer to 8.72 percent.
“The proportion of households without a vehicle is likely influenced by a variety of factors,” Sivak explained, adding that “examples of such factors include the quality of public transportation, urban layout and walkability, availability and cost of parking, income and price of fuel.”
Moreover, in the major urban centers, like New York, more than half of the residents do not own a vehicle (56 percent), while in Washington D.C. it’s 38 percent and in Detroit 26 percent.
As for the future, it would seem like a trend set to continue; “American households without a vehicle have increased nearly every year since 2007—providing further evidence that motorization may have (already) peaked in the United States,” was the way in which it was put in the source article.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: UMich via Freep
