Driving Declined During the Recovery

Here’s a fantastic chart from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, based on work by Portland-based economist Joe Cortright, showing the decline in driving since the end of the 2007-2009 recession (in red)—and how unusual that decline has been, compared with previous recessions.

We’ve covered all of this before, ad nauseum, but it still seems to surprise people: per capita driving has fallen considerably; total driving has been down or roughly flat; and you can’t just blame the recession. There’s something else much more fundamental going on—something that can’t be explained away by dips or blips in GDP.