Amid significant growth in transit commuting in New Jersey, rising CTTransit ridership, Metro-North’s recent gains, and a 1.1% increase in ridership on the MTA’s subways and buses in 2011, transit boosters have another reason to cheer: a recently released report from USPIRG and Frontier Group has found that, since the middle of the last decade, Americans have been driving less and travelling by foot, bike, or transit more. The trend, they found, is led by young people, age 16 to 34.

The report’s key findings are encouraging for transportation and sustainable development advocates:

• From 2001 to 2009, the annual number of vehicle-miles traveled by young people (ages 16 to 34) decreased from 10,300 miles to 7,900 miles – a drop of 23%.
• In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds took 24% more bike trips than they did in 2001.
• In 2009, 16 to 34-year-olds walked to destinations 16% more frequently than in 2001
• Between 2001 and 2009, the annual number of miles traveled by 16 to 34 year olds on public transit such as trains and buses increased by 40 percent.

USPIRG and Frontier Group also suggested that the trend away from car dependency among young people would endure, even as the economy rebounds. Young people, they said, would likely continue taking transit, cycling, and walking for a variety of reasons, including:

• Legal and financial barriers to car ownership
• The high price of fuel
• Improved technology, which eases the use of public transit (real-time bus tracking, for example)
• Environmental and health concerns

The report also found that a majority of Americans, regardless of age, prefer to live in areas of “smart growth” (defined as places with a mix of single family houses, apartments, and condos, with stores, restaurants, libraries, schools, and access to public transportation).

Clearly, Americans are demanding walkable, compact communities that offer a variety of transportation options, and reports from the tri-state region bear this out. According to a recent poll, two thirds of New Jerseyans believe that their state needs more walkable, sustainable communities; nearly three in four New Jerseyans said that they would definitely or probably like to live in such a community. In Connecticut, communities requested more than $13 million in transit-oriented development grants in 2011, although the state could only fund $5 million of them. In New York, the Lower Hudson Valley is crying out for public transit on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Now, more than ever, our region’s investment in transit, cycling, and walking projects must keep pace with rising demand.