Era of The Personal Cars is Endingby Dharmendra Kapri | 03-10-2014 17:10 |
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In the century since the Ford Model T was introduced in 1908, global vehicle numbers have swollen to well over a billion. But according to recent research, the growth spurt may have peaked. Professor Michael Sivak, at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute has just published a series of reports on car use, and its environmental impact. His calculations show that ?motorisation? in the United States might have reached a peak in 2008, and that the figures have been on the decline since. That holds even when the global economic downturn, and its negative impact on car sales, is taken into account. He speculates that a number of factors could be contributing to the trend, probably making it more than a passing fad. These include increased telecommuting (or working from home) and the movement of populations back to city centres. Another way to examine the issue is to look at the number of households without a car. In the United States, the percentage going motor-less is increasing. New York, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, each have more than 30 percent of households without a light duty vehicle. In fact the figures show that 56 percent of households in New York (which top the list) do not have a car. Perhaps it is not so surprising in cities like New York, which have extensive public transport networks, and where the costs of parking can far outweigh the cost of a purchase of a subway ticket. But it is not the full story. In Los Angeles, only 12 percent of households are car-less, and in affluent San Jose, heart of Silicon Valley, it is only 5.8 percent.
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