New and Unique Aspects of University Campus Transportation Data to Improve Planning Methods

Abstract

University campuses provide unique mixed land use, multimodal, and walkable environments to students, faculty, and staff. Often, these campuses are islands of sustainable transport within mostly auto-oriented cities. Campuses are often internally balanced, with most amenities needed by the campus community located within walking distance. Campus populations vary widely but can range from several thousand to tens of thousands, the size of a small town. Universities can also be the largest single employer in many urban areas, providing significant leverage when developing transportation planning strategies. Despite millions of university students and employees, little research has been conducted on best practices and unique methods of transportation and environmental analysis for these unique cases. Universities are increasingly developing comprehensive transportation and environmental plans with little guidance on the best approaches that cater to the unique features of universityrelated travel.Universities have relatively unique many-to-one travel patterns and tend to have central control over transportation and land-use policies (e.g., parking) for the campus community. Moreover, universities tend to keep some household data on all or most campus users (e.g., home address). These features make some traditional transportation and environmental planning and travel demand management (TDM) strategies ill-fitting for campuses.This paper presents a unique methodology with specific cases outlined for exploiting some of the data and travel behaviors that are available to universities. We focus on pairing specific origin (home location) data provided by universities with traditional travel and activity surveys to identify travel demands and opportunities for improved TDM. This is a novel contribution relative to mostly descriptive university-related travel research-allowing more precise policy interventions. We do this in the context of traditional TDM plans and emerging campus greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and climate action plans.The paper is organized as follows. First, we describe the existing work on campus transportation planning and identify gaps in the literature. Next, we propose a method 781659T RRXXX10.

Managing campus parking demand through course scheduling – an approach to campus sustainability

“…For instance, to reduce parking demand on campus, a study at the University of California, Berkeley, looked at the role of a targeted and customized marketing campaign in mode-shift among campus users (Riggs, 2016; Riggs and Kuo, 2014). The carpool program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, also reduced campus parking demand by increasing carpooling among students and staff (Cherry et al , 2018). Other studies have also looked at the role of campus bike-sharing and e-bikes programs in reducing campus parking demand (Kaplan and Knowles, 2015; Langford et al , 2013).…”

The application of travel demand management initiatives within a university setting

“…Although parking cost is often considered one of the most powerful TDM initiatives and is frequently used within university campuses (Bond and Steiner, 2006;Cherry et al, 2018), individuals who behave habitually are less willing and interested in sustainable alternatives which can be more advantageous in terms of time and cost (Busch-Geertsema and Lanzendorf, 2017;Gärling and Fujii, 2009;Verplanken et al, 1998). Cairns et al (2010) stated that organisations which had constrained workplace parking or increased parking costs reduced the modal share of driving to work by an average of ~25%.…”

“…Successful travel plans can have significant health benefits, such as improved positive mental health, decreased risk of cardiovascular diseases, improved weight status and decreased mortality (Bopp et al, 2018;Hamer and Chida, 2008;Martin et al, 2014;Norwood et al, 2014;Pucher et al, 2010). However, in recent years, environment and climate policies have encouraged universities to carefully consider the role transport plays in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission production during commuter periods and to come up with solutions to reduce their negative environmental impacts (Cherry et al, 2018).…”

University Bus Services: Responding to Students’ Travel Demands?

“…Many large universities strive to provide sustainable (affordable, safe, attractive, and resource-efficient) transportation for students [1][2][3][4]. This can help reduce costs to students and their families, traffic and parking congestion, air pollution, and other undesirable traffic impacts.…”