Innovation

Millennials Want Fuel Efficiency and Public Transport


It’s not all about living life in the fast lane for millennials. Not unless electric buses are making their way into the fast lane. Four in five UK tech and design students placed fuel efficiency and investment in public transport as top priorities when it comes to future mobility, a new report shows.

Goodyear’s ‘Think Good Mobility’ report surveyed young people in twelve European countries, including the UK, on the future of sustainable transport over the next decade. Targeting science, technology, engineering, maths, art and design students, the survey provides an insight into future mobility, from the point of view of our future innovators. The study found that, across Europe, this climate-conscious generation are putting the environment at the top of the check-list. 59% believe the key challenge over the next decade is to build sustainable cars with eco-friendly technology.

Perhaps due to concern for their pockets rather than the icecaps, 52% of UK students said fuel-efficient cars should be the main focus when it comes to sustainability in motoring. Good news for parents then, that their children aren’t dreaming of gas-guzzling monster trucks and the insurance to match. Good news for young people too, with predictions of an explosion in the electric car market and fuel efficient self-driving cars on the horizon. Bad news for the oil industry.

Money-wise millennials in the UK also ranked investment in public transport more highly than those in other European countries and felt there should be better incentives to use public transport. They put it ahead of recycling used components, emission filters, smart technology, eco-friendly tyres, and smart traffic management.

“Young people across Europe don’t want future generations to look back on them as the generation that stood still,” said Jean-Pierre Jeusette, general director at the Goodyear Innovation Center.

“It’s also interesting to see that public transport ranked more highly with UK respondents compared with the rest of Europe, and that one in three UK respondents felt there should be better incentives in place to use public transport. This might be linked to the fact there are several high-profile public transports developments underway, such as Crossrail and HS2,” added Kate Rock.

Despite this apparent enthusiasm for public transport, UK millennials aren’t so eagerly trading in cars for buses. Car ownership remains important to young people in the UK, with 84% saying they expect to own a car by 2025, compared with just 74% in the Netherlands and 79% in Sweden. However, by 2025 the lines may be blurring between public and private transport with the self-driving cars entering the market.

Think Good Mobility

With a growing global population comes a growing mobile population. Developments in transport and mobility will be essential over the next ten years to serve the increasing number of people on the roads. This prompted the new research from Goodyear, in association with ThinkYoung. The survey provides insights into  the biggest challenges as well as the development needs in mobility, with the aim of moving this generation forward and helping them realise the advantages future mobility could present them.

The full report can be found at thinkgoodmobility.com.

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