An interesting trend in taking place in the transportation industry: although public transport — trains, subways, city and coach buses — may have been considered “lame” a few years ago, the industry is certainly looking a lot “cooler” now. Specifically with young adults (i.e. the Millennials), public transportation is becoming not just acceptable and encouraged, but preferred.
As Tanveer Ali has recently noted in a piece for DNAinfo.com, millenials are graduating, moving to new cities, taking jobs, and finally becoming becoming driving forces in consumer markets. Rather than just theoretically claiming that public transportation needs to be encouraged more, this group of consumers is actually changing the industry and requiring more public transportation options.
So what’s the deal with this change? Well, as many economic experts have already noted, the millennial generation grew up in a shaky time — let’s not forget that the Great Recession isn’t too far behind us yet, and that it affected young adults in high school and college, even though the way it affected these Americans wasn’t as evident as the way in which working, middle class adults were affected. But the millennials grew up during a time when budgeting one’s finances became more important than ever before. They also grew up during a time when increased environmental awareness starting permeating American culture, and they’ve seen the effects of global warming take place.
Quite simply, millennials have a keen eye on the future, and they can see — even if they don’t realize it fully — that public transportation has an important place in that future.
This isn’t to say that every young adult is going to refuse a ride on a private jet, should they be offered one. But when the choice is between a $400 plane ride and a $50 coach bus ride, more and more millennials are starting to choose coach and charter bus services. Not only is this option cheaper, but it’s considerably more eco-friendly.
So maybe the public transportation industry won’t completely take over private cars and planes — but it certainly isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Get more info here: www.cardinalbuses.com