It hasn’t really been that long since families have moved from 1 to 2 or more cars per household. The odd thing is that my reading shows mention of the affordability of cars as being the primary factor. Common sense says to me that more career working women may have played a factor. Today we might also be able to say that children’s busy social schedules might also play a role or at least that’s what I hear. Travel teams are almost the norm these days. The times have certainly changed. That much we can say for sure.
“As of 2013, US Census estimates suggest that there were approximately 1.8 vehicles per household. Vehicle ownership in the US is higher than any place else in the world.” http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-states-by-vehicles-per-capita.html
But now Uber, Lyft and soon a host of other options have entered the market. Auto manufacturers are also expected to get into the game by making car ownership a thing of the past for all of us. And why not? Entrepreneurs see an inefficient market as an opportunity for capitalism to flourish. What inefficiency? The time that your car sits un-used. The price you are paying for your car to sit in the driveway or sit in the parking lot at work is the inefficiency that they are looking to exploit. It’s where the opportunity lays. GM has launched Maven and Ford has Ford Pass. Both moving people away from car ownership and into the hop into a car and go. They will own the car. You will use it only when you need it.
Heck you don’t even need to own a car to be a Lyft driver anymore. GM will rent you one as a serious discount as serious as free. http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/15/11224200/gm-lyft-car-rental-maven-chicago-express-drive
And car ownership is out of favor with the younger set.
According to a study conducted by the University of Michigan’s Transport Research Institute, there has been a significant decrease in driver’s license holders in the age group of 20-24 in the U.S. While nearly 92% of the U.S. population in this age group had a driver’s license in 1983, this number declined to nearly 77% in 2014.https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2016/01/25/with-maven-is-general-motors-driving-into-the-future/#36176f925018
As it happens 1983 is when I graduated from high school and in 1983 I could not have imagined not driving. My personal freedom was tied to my ability to drive my car. Only losers didn’t drive. Things are different now; Dramatically different even for me.
I love to drive. When I’m on vacation; in a location that’s great for driving; on a road trip. Not so much around town. I really don’t think that anyone likes driving around town. Road rage is the only proof I need of that.
I find myself driving less and less. The spouse and I work from home. The office is at home. I don’t enjoy driving around town. Why am I maintaining a second car?
1. I love my car. I bought it for the technology cool factor and I said I would never sell it.
That’s all I can think of. I believe that it would be less expensive for me to call Lyft or Uber if I find myself carless and need to go somewhere. The future is less car ownership for all us. I think that’s clear. When this future gets here is the only question. When will they be able to remove the inefficiencies of car ownership without sacrificing the convenience of car ownership? We don’t know the answer to this futurist question.
But the question at hand for me is, should I do it now?
– Amy, president
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2 thoughts on “Is it time to become a one car family?”
Hi Amy, loved the article about car ownership. Very informative. I see another side bar issue that may come up in the future. That being, since drivers licensing is “declining” ( for all the good reasons stated)and a government photo ID is required in many instances, possibly this will bring up the need for a national photo ID system. ( good for tamping down voter fraud, people moving from county to county or state to state, buying guns, and other weapons, flying on commercial aircraft, teaching, childcare, healthcare professionals) i am sure there are a hundred other uses. I have a NEXUS pass for border crossing and travel between Canada/USA/Mexico that ID already has data attached that has been merged with Homeland Security. On the last update about 4-5 yrs ago, to my pass i had to get my iris scaned, and the finger printed, (my thrumb and index finger), plus all data of physical discription is in the chip. ( of course initially it cost me $80 and filling out a 10 page application on details of my entire life, like all addresses i ever had, etc, relatives, countries visited i guess, and was interviewed by Canadian and US Border staff, etc…but it is sure nice to cross border in the 5 min fast lane vs 25 min to 1.5 hrs during busy times of the day). Just an idea that came to mind as a spin off of the downsizing car idea. Most states tie getting a drivers license to voter registration. Thank you for your good updates on what going on and how to deal with it. Also, FYI: i think the latest radsom attack is just a trial run to later actually go after our and other countries infrastructure as warfare not just for small amounts if money from corporations or institutions. It was practice. George Soros, for example is very skilled at munipulating currency’s and has managed to bring down small governments for his purpose in past 10 years, just tip of iceburg for what can happen next. How do we as a country prepare for that type of cyper attack?
You brought up a lot of issues. I too have a Nexxus card for travelling between the US and Canada. It also serves me well for boarding airplanes as it includes a known traveler number which gets you into the fast lane at the airport. As a bonus there’s no show removal, laptop scanning and all of that other annoying stuff. It certainly could replace State ID’s because like you said the security level is already much higher. Will it? I doubt it. For some reason States want to remain in charge of identifying people; even though they all do it at the low level