IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2206.11056.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Generational Differences in Automobility: Comparing America's Millennials and Gen Xers Using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees

Author

Listed:
  • Kailai Wang

    (University of Houston)

  • Xize Wang

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

Whether the Millennials are less auto-centric than the previous generations has been widely discussed in the literature. Most existing studies use regression models and assume that all factors are linear-additive in contributing to the young adults' driving behaviors. This study relaxes this assumption by applying a non-parametric statistical learning method, namely the gradient boosting decision trees (GBDT). Using U.S. nationwide travel surveys for 2001 and 2017, this study examines the non-linear dose-response effects of lifecycle, socio-demographic and residential factors on daily driving distances of Millennial and Gen-X young adults. Holding all other factors constant, Millennial young adults had shorter predicted daily driving distances than their Gen-X counterparts. Besides, residential and economic factors explain around 50% of young adults' daily driving distances, while the collective contributions for life course events and demographics are about 33%. This study also identifies the density ranges for formulating effective land use policies aiming at reducing automobile travel demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Kailai Wang & Xize Wang, 2022. "Generational Differences in Automobility: Comparing America's Millennials and Gen Xers Using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees," Papers 2206.11056, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2206.11056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2206.11056
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tao, Tao & Wang, Jueyu & Cao, Xinyu, 2020. "Exploring the non-linear associations between spatial attributes and walking distance to transit," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Mark R. Stevens, 2017. "Does Compact Development Make People Drive Less?," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(1), pages 7-18, January.
    3. Emily Talen, 2017. "Empower the Millennials," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 331-333, March.
    4. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    5. Dowell Myers, 2016. "Peak Millennials: Three Reinforcing Cycles That Amplify the Rise and Fall of Urban Concentration by Millennials," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(6), pages 928-947, November.
    6. Michael Manville & David A. King & Michael J. Smart, 2017. "The Driving Downturn: A Preliminary Assessment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(1), pages 42-55, January.
    7. Hopkins, Debbie, 2016. "Can environmental awareness explain declining preference for car-based mobility amongst generation Y? A qualitative examination of learn to drive behaviours," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 149-163.
    8. Venu M. Garikapati & Ram M. Pendyala & Eric A. Morris & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Noreen McDonald, 2016. "Activity patterns, time use, and travel of millennials: a generation in transition?," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(5), pages 558-584, September.
    9. Alexa Delbosc & Graham Currie, 2013. "Causes of Youth Licensing Decline: A Synthesis of Evidence," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3), pages 271-290, May.
    10. Klein, Nicholas J. & Smart, Michael J., 2017. "Millennials and car ownership: Less money, fewer cars," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 20-29.
    11. Thigpen, Calvin & Handy, Susan, 2018. "Driver's licensing delay: A retrospective case study of the impact of attitudes, parental and social influences, and intergenerational differences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 24-40.
    12. Christopher R. Knittel & Elizabeth Murphy, 2019. "Generational Trends in Vehicle Ownership and Use: Are Millennials Any Different?," NBER Working Papers 25674, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Tobias Kuhnimhof & Jimmy Armoogum & Ralph Buehler & Joyce Dargay & Jon Martin Denstadli & Toshiyuki Yamamoto, 2012. "Men Shape a Downward Trend in Car Use among Young Adults—Evidence from Six Industrialized Countries," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(6), pages 761-779, September.
    14. Hjorthol, Randi, 2016. "Decreasing popularity of the car? Changes in driving licence and access to a car among young adults over a 25-year period in Norway," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 140-146.
    15. Delbosc, Alexa & Nakanishi, Hitomi, 2017. "A life course perspective on the travel of Australian millennials," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 319-336.
    16. Miriam Pirra & Marco Diana, 2019. "A study of tour-based mode choice based on a Support Vector Machine classifier," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(1), pages 23-36, January.
    17. Circella, Giovanni & Tiedeman, Kate & Handy, Susan & Alemi, Farzad & Mokhtarian, Patricia, 2016. "What Affects Millennials’ Mobility? Part I: Investigating the Environmental Concerns, Lifestyles, Mobility-Related Attitudes and Adoption of Technology of Young Adults in California," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt6wm51523, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    18. Marlon G. Boarnet & Xize Wang & Douglas Houston, 2017. "Can New Light Rail Reduce Personal Vehicle Carbon Emissions? A Before‐After, Experimental‐Control Evaluation In Los Angeles," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(3), pages 523-539, June.
    19. Scheiner, Joachim & Holz-Rau, Christian, 2013. "A comprehensive study of life course, cohort, and period effects on changes in travel mode use," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 167-181.
    20. Mark R. Stevens, 2017. "Response to Commentaries on “Does Compact Development Make People Drive Less?”," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 83(2), pages 151-158, April.
    21. Blumenberg, Evelyn & Ralph, Kelcie & Smart, Michael & Taylor, Brian D., 2016. "Who knows about kids these days? Analyzing the determinants of youth and adult mobility in the U.S. between 1990 and 2009," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 39-54.
    22. Wang, Xize, 2019. "Has the relationship between urban and suburban automobile travel changed across generations? Comparing Millennials and Generation Xers in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 107-122.
    23. Yusak O. Susilo & Chengxi Liu & Maria Börjesson, 2019. "The changes of activity-travel participation across gender, life-cycle, and generations in Sweden over 30 years," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 793-818, June.
    24. Brownstone, David & Golob, Thomas F., 2009. "The impact of residential density on vehicle usage and energy consumption," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 91-98, January.
    25. Wang, Kailai & Akar, Gulsah & Chen, Yu-Jen, 2018. "Bike sharing differences among Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers: Lessons learnt from New York City’s bike share," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-14.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Kailai & Wang, Xize, 2021. "Generational Differences in Automobility: Comparing America's Millennials and Gen Xers Using Gradient Boosting Decision Trees," SocArXiv n3a9e, Center for Open Science.
    2. De Vos, Jonas & Alemi, Farzad, 2020. "Are young adults car-loving urbanites? Comparing young and older adults’ residential location choice, travel behavior and attitudes," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 986-998.
    3. Ali Etezady & F. Atiyya Shaw & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Giovanni Circella, 2021. "What drives the gap? Applying the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method to examine generational differences in transportation-related attitudes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 857-883, April.
    4. Monteiro, Mayara Moraes & de Abreu e Silva, João & Haustein, Sonja & Pinho de Sousa, Jorge, 2021. "Urban travel behavior adaptation of temporary transnational residents," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Haseeb, Attiya & Mitra, Raktim, 2023. "Do environmentally sustainable travel behaviours contribute to transportation-related social exclusion?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Zhu, Pengyu & Tan, Xinying & Zhao, Songnian & Shi, Shuai & Wang, Mingshu, 2022. "Land use regulations, transit investment, and commuting preferences," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. Zhang, Yixue & Zhao, Pengjun & Lin, Jen-Jia, 2021. "Exploring shopping travel behavior of millennials in Beijing: Impacts of built environment, life stages, and subjective preferences," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 49-60.
    8. Wang, Xize, 2019. "Has the relationship between urban and suburban automobile travel changed across generations? Comparing Millennials and Generation Xers in the United States," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 107-122.
    9. Krueger, Rico & Rashidi, Taha H. & Vij, Akshay, 2018. "X vs. Y: An Analysis of Intergenerational Differences in Transport Mode Use Among Young Adults," SocArXiv unezy, Center for Open Science.
    10. Xize Wang, 2022. "Has the Relationship between Urban and Suburban Automobile Travel Changed across Generations? Comparing Millennials and Generation Xers in the United States," Papers 2206.10601, arXiv.org.
    11. Ghazaleh Azimi & Alireza Rahimi & Xia Jin, 2022. "Exploring the attitudes of Millennials and Generation Xers toward ridesourcing services," Transportation, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 1765-1799, December.
    12. Morris, Eric A. & Speroni, Samuel & Taylor, Brian D., 2023. "Going nowhere fast: Might changing activity patterns help explain falling travel?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    13. Rico Krueger & Taha H. Rashidi & Akshay Vij, 2020. "X vs. Y: an analysis of intergenerational differences in transport mode use among young adults," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2203-2231, October.
    14. Shin, Jaeyong & Tilahun, Nebiyou, 2022. "The role of residential choice on the travel behavior of young adults," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 62-74.
    15. Blanco, Hilda & Wikstrom, Alexander, 2018. "Transit-Oriented Development Opportunities Among Failing Malls," Institute of Transportation Studies, Working Paper Series qt3h62q04h, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis.
    16. Nash, Sean & Mitra, Raktim, 2019. "University students' transportation patterns, and the role of neighbourhood types and attitudes," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 200-211.
    17. Yongsung Lee & Giovanni Circella & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Subhrajit Guhathakurta, 2020. "Are millennials more multimodal? A latent-class cluster analysis with attitudes and preferences among millennial and Generation X commuters in California," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 2505-2528, October.
    18. Erik Elldér & Katarina Haugen & Bertil Vilhelmson, 2022. "When local access matters: A detailed analysis of place, neighbourhood amenities and travel choice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(1), pages 120-139, January.
    19. Zhang, Ming & Li, Yang, 2022. "Generational travel patterns in the United States: New insights from eight national travel surveys," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 1-13.
    20. Shaila Jamal & K. Bruce Newbold, 2020. "Factors Associated with Travel Behavior of Millennials and Older Adults: A Scoping Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-27, October.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2206.11056. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.