ICT, millennials' lifestyles and travel choices

Abstract

Millennials are often called “digital natives” because they grew up during the era of rapid development and widespread adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) in various aspects of everyday life. On average, millennials hold more positive attitudes toward the adoption of new technologies, and even in the transportation field they include a large portion of early adopters and frequent users of shared mobility services such as carsharing, ridehailing, and micromobility. In this chapter, we summarize the findings from the literature regarding the adoption of ICT solutions, in particular among millennials, and their relationships with travel choices. Further, we explore various patterns with which millennials and members of the previous generations use ICT applications in key domains of everyday life, and their relationships with travel choices, focusing in particular on travel mode choice. To do that, we analyze a rich transportation survey dataset collected in 2018 in California (N = 3631). We apply latent-class cluster analysis (LCCA) and identify three rather distinctive groups: intense users, moderate users, and light users of ICT. Interestingly, many intense ICT users are young educated adults living in cities with limited access to vehicles, while many light users are less-educated seniors from low-income households living in small towns or rural areas. Many millennials and members of Generation Z are found in the intense user class, while many Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation are in the light user class. On average, intense ICT users are more often found to be multimodal travelers who use public transportation, ridehailing, carsharing, and active travel modes, while moderate/light ICT users are more auto-oriented individuals. Consistent with expectations, the rather mobile and ICT-oriented lifestyles of millennials are associated with less car-dependent travel choices. Still, it is not clear the extent to which this reflects a true preference toward technological solutions over traditional ways of living and moving around vs. it is the result of lower access to private vehicles, temporary conditions and a transient stage in life.