A local blogger in my community posted about new reports showing the Millennial generation (born 1982-2004ish) is less oriented toward owning a car than prior recent generations. OK, so let’s say this trend will continue. Now what?
I’m a proponent of a cultural shift in how public transportation is framed as a need, and is, resulting, approached and “solved.” Much of the residual attitude from the Silent Gen (due process, civil rights) is that public transportation is for “the needy.” Boomers came next in the natural line of leadership, but to them political power is mostly about values wars with little actionable result; hence, ineffective public transportation and systems that barely worked for the benefit of the end users. Coming now are GenXers moving into leadership and crafting public use systems based on their generation’s core values.
Hmm, what shall we see?
Depends on how we frame the problem, right? If our goal is to provide public transportation for the “needy” in the suburbs (for goodness’s sake, could we come up with a more ridiculous problem to even pretend to solve?) then we’re going to (most likely) have a very ineffective, expensive, under-used system.
However, if we frame the problem through the lens of generations, culture change and “seasonal turnings” (ref: Strauss and Howe, Fourth Turning), then we have a very different framework and a very different possible solution. See, Millennials orient toward their peers. They expect adults (read: older adults, organizations, businesses and governments) to create safe structures for them and their peers to be together. (It sounds horrible to the ears of others, but, really, this phenomenon is part of the “cleaning up’ and restructuring of the public space that is deeply in need of renewal.)
So, what might this look like? For work-related transportation, this might look like Millennial-only buses shuttling from the HoCo to DC and Baltimore daily. Clean buses. Fresh. Wifi. Coffee. Table seating so that they can face each other and talk while being transported, rather than isolated in individual bucket-style seats. Oh, and it’ll be cheap, alright. Subsidized. And better quality, more affluent and more technology-rich than any other transportation options around. In general, people will be happy that this age-focused service will be available. It’ll feel fresh and good and right … even if a number of us GenXers fuss a bit.
What else might this Millennial-focused transportation look like?
Here’s the skinny for the HoCo. It’s a circulator bus that’s needed. It looks like this, for example: A bus starts off at Starbucks or the Borders (more parking is available there). People can get on for a day pass. And the bus circulates. It goes around the big-box shopping areas. To the movie theater. To the mall. To a village center or two. Maybe there is a big homecoming game one weekend and the bus makes a special stop at the game, to cater to its primary audience. Businesses collaborate and have specials for the Circulators, maybe the Second Chance Saloon has a Saturday brunch special and the Lowes Theater offers a discount for people who have a ticket stamped from the Second Chance.
Maybe it’s simpler and the circulator bus just goes around. And around. But it’s the *social* experience of being on the bus that becomes key. People will want to ride the bus because it’s social, friendly and offering a vibrant vibe. (Try getting on a public bus nowadays and seeing that!) On the hoco-circulator bus, you’ll see Millennials texting each other. Planning on getting together at Maggie Moos in River Hill. Or over at the Cheesecake Factory. Or a mom doing some shopping on the Circulator and dropping her kids off at a Columbia Association tween-focused event in the afternoon. See, when Millennials are around, adults become more alert about lighting, safety, security and affluence. And so the service will become more attractive to people of all ages and generations. It will be more family-friendly and elderly-friendly, too.
See, this all sounds crazy now.
But it’s because the older generations are trying to solve problems through their lenses, rather than understanding the archetypal personalities of the rising generation. And while this will probably drive you nuts to hear this:
Millennials have grown up witnessing adults make their generation’s issues the nation’s problems, and this does*not*change*as*they*move*through*life! So, now Millennials are beginning to rise into young adulthood and their needs are different than when they were the gen rising into childhood. They’re young. They’re into dating, peer-focused activity and every and anything their generational cohorts are doing. Public transportation — in cities and in suburbs — that is designed to meet this generation’s needs will be successful.
That’s my crystal ball. Snicker today all you want. And reflect on how natural and right it seems when such solutions are implemented 5-10 years down the road. 🙂
