The end of America's car culture? Once a symbol of the American dream and young adulthood, cars seem to be losing some of their appeal.

• Author: Potenza, Alessanora
• Position: NATIONAL

Julia Grueskin, who lives in Austin, Texas, has two jobs and no car. On a busy day, the 23-year-old yoga and cooking instructor rides her bike three to five miles and takes seven to eight buses, commuting for as long as five hours. After failing her driving test in high school, grueskin decided she didn't want a license anyway.

"I wasn't really interested in having a car," she says. "I just think it isn't as much of a priority for young people anymore."

Grueskin isn't alone. Recent studies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less, and getting fewer licenses than in the past--and that's especially true for young people. The changes have left researchers wondering whether America's love affair with cars might be coming to an end.

In the 1980s, about two thirds of 16- to 19-year-olds had a driver's license, but only about half do now, according to a study by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. And young people who do have licenses are driving less. From 2001 to 2009, the number of miles traveled annually by 16- to 34-year-old drivers dropped by 23 percent, the same study found.

Why is this happening in the United States, a country whose culture has long revolved around the car? Researchers say that the economic recession that began in 2007--though definitely a contributor--isn't the only factor.

"What most intrigues me is that rates of car ownership per household and per person started to come down two to three years before the downturn," says Michael Sivak, a researcher at the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. "I think that means something more fundamental is going on."

'Everybody Wanted to Drive'

America's car culture dates back to the early 20th century, when Henry Ford began mass-producing the Model T, making cars more affordable and giving ordinary Americans their first taste of mobility. In the booming decades after World War II, rising incomes put cars within reach of an increasing number of people. The construction of new highways and suburbs created a car-oriented lifestyle epitomized by drive-in movie theaters, drive-through fast-food restaurants, and shopping malls with huge parking lots--all boosted by cheap gas.

America grew more prosperous and Baby Boomers--those born between 1946 and 1964--began leaving cities in search of safer, less-crowded places to raise families. For the rising middle class, the very definition of the American Dream became a home in the suburbs and a driveway...