While Americans are not yet giving up their cars, they are increasingly taking up walking, cycling, and public transport as well

The vast majority of trips made by Americans every day are by car, and yet over the past decade, the annual number of miles traveled per person has been declining. Ralph Buehler explains that rather than giving up their cars completely, American’s multimodality is increasing, with increasing numbers walking, cycling, or using public transport as well as driving. Multimodal motorists are generally younger, live in high density neighborhoods, and derive fewer miles. He writes that the trend towards multimodality has been in spite of the generally unsafe conditions faced by pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport passengers, and that policies which aim to improve these conditions are like to increase the share of multimodal drivers.