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Projects Updates for Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

  1. Car Culture and Climate Change: A Student Op-Ed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

     

    Student Op-Ed: Car Culture and Climate Change

    In this opinion piece, undergraduate Shelby Job uses the U of I as a case study to examine the impact of efforts to limit automobile use and enourage biking, walking and public transit on America's "car culture" — especially in lower- and middle-class communities. 

    "Although the campus’ lack of accessibility by automobile might feel like a constraint on individual freedom, using infrastructure to encourage active modes of transportation may be the way forward as we search for solutions to the climate crisis," Job writes.

    But higher parking rates and the scarcity of parking overall raise the question of whether manipulating road systems will lead to a car culture that is only accessible to socioeconomic elites, she writes. "If municipalities begin to restrict auto travel by cutting down on the amount of affordable parking, then the face of an area's car culture is likely to change in a way that excludes those of lower socioeconomic standing."

    The op-ed was originally written for a course in iSEE's Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW

  2. Transportation SWATeam Meeting 24 October 2019

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation SWATeam
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    Encourage Active Transportation
    Encourage Low-Emission Vehicles
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus
    Encourage Telecommuting
    Reduce Business Travel Emissions

    Attached are the meeting minutes from the 24 October Transportation SWATeam meeting.

    Stacey DeLorenzo was able to join us in order to provide insight to the Road Management Objectives the SWATeam discussed earlier, and to answer questions. She also was able to take a look at other objectives and provide input on potential objective ideas.

    The SWATeam confirmed submittal of Road Management, Active Transportation, and Business Travel Emissions objectives and added a new objective under Reducing Business Travel emissions.

    The next meeting is 31 October 2019.

    Attached Files: 

  3. 2019 Mode Share results - Faculty/Staff and Students

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    The mode share for campus employees driving alone is down from an original figure of 74% to only 60%!  There is more work to be done to reach our FY20 goal of only 55%, but this is great progress! Check out the graph at 4.4 Reduce Single Occupancy Vehicle Usage, or read the attached files for more details.

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  6. Trans008 Mode Share Survey recommendation - Successful

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Transportation SWATeam Recommendations Summary
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment has agreed to administer a mode-share survey helmed by Micah Kenfield, Sustainability Programs Coordinator.

    See iWG assessment Trans008 Mode Share Survey here.

    See SWATeam recommendation Trans008 Mode Share Survey here.

    For future updates, please refer to Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus.

  7. Trans008 Mode Share Survey recommendation - Transmitted

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Transportation SWATeam Recommendations Summary
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    This recommendation has been transmitted to Evan DeLucia at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.

    See attached assessment file here.

    See SWATeam recommendation Trans008 Mode Share Survey here.

    Attached Files: 

  8. SSC and F&S to host Free to Ride film screening

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    Free To Ride, a documentary produced by The Ohio State University's Kirwan Institute, highlights the relentless spirit of community leaders from across Dayton, Ohio who overcame a suburban contingent fearfully opposed to the expansion of public transit along a commercial corridor, and the system of checks and balances that allowed justice and reason to prevail.

    Trailer: https://vimeo.com/95444875

    This event is free and open to the public. Join us on March 7th at 4pm in room 112 at the Transportation Building.

    Event Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1554444197965701/

    Attached Files: 

  10. April 21st, 2017 Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation SWATeam
    Decrease Emissions from UI Fleet
    Develop Scenarios for Converting the UI Fleet to Renewable Fuels
    Upgrade Bike Parking U-loops
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    Meeting Minutes 4/21/17

    In attendance:

    Ximing Cai

    Pete Varney

    Brian Farber

    Yanfeng Ouyang

     

    Summary:

    This meeting serve to continue discussion on campus fleet, bike parking, and campus parking. Also, Ximing Cai was introduced to the team.

     

    Topics:

    Discussion on Campus Fleet

    Pete led a discussion on campus fleet efforts. He stated that converting campus fleet to EVs and CNG vehicles would have a large effect on campus emissions, and that campus utility is interested in learning about electric vehicles, but there are certain obstacles to converting campus fleet. First it would cost about half a million dollars or more. These costs are largely attribute to building infrastructure for CNG refueling systems. In addition, campus fleet vehicles for Facilities and Services as well as housing do not drive very far, so the fuel savings would be small. However, converting campus fleet would be practical as the vehicles do not travel off campus, meaning there will be no inconvenience in refueling the vehicles.

    Bike Parking

    We continued our discussion on bike parking from the last meeting. One of our concerns, given the cost of the permits, is security. Anyone who is paying for a permit must be certain that there bike is secure. We might want to have security cameras.

    Parking

    We discussed efforts to encourage less driving through parking incentives. Pete suggested having a passenger-car-free campus zone by placing parking outside of certain zones of campus. This idea was well received by the group and generally liked. However, we discussed challenges to any parking changes. We discussed specific proposals to adjust parking prices, shown here:

    -          Try to price people out of parking and mitigate this by reducing the price at other locations

    -          Allow flexible payment in percentage of salary

    -          Have and “auction” in which whoever pays the largest percent of their salary gets the closest location.

    -          Remove or lift parking cap so that wealthier parkers pay more and thus provide more revenue

    -          Have a private company raise rates on parking

     

    Then, we discussed challenges to these proposals:

    -          Parking is important to unions – any changes may result in strikes or political conflict

    -          The sentiment of Parking and Campus master plan does not necessarily agree with people parking farther away – an objective that would be achieved through a passenger-car-free zone

    -          Hiring private company likely not a good idea – their primary motivation is profit

    -          City of Champaign changed parking ordinances so that spaces at churches, fraternities, etc, decrease

     

    Our next meeting is TBD.

     

  11. September 9th, 2016 Meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation SWATeam
    Develop Scenarios for Converting the UI Fleet to Renewable Fuels
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus
    2014 Campus Bike Plan

    9/09/16

     

    Summary: This meeting was our inaugural meeting for the year. On the agenda today was the creation of a team description, a review of ongoing projects, and planning for future meetings.

     

    In attendance:

        Josh Feldman

        Claire Dondival

    Ankit Singhai

    Yangfeng Ouyang

    Pete Varney

    Lily Wilcox - Active Transportation Coordinator

    Olivia Webb - Sustainability Programs Coordinator

     

    Topics Covered:

     

    Team Description

    We collectively crafted our team description for the iCAP portal, which can be found at:  https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/transportation-swateam.

     

    Project Slides

    Renewable Fleet Study:

    Claire and Petehelped foster a discussion about the current types of alternative fuels for campus fleet vehicles. Currently, natural gas is the only type of fuel seriously looked at. One concern was that the gas CNG, while possible to implement, would be somewhat costly and have little payback unless driven many miles. Electric vehicles were brought up, but are currently not part of the market. Biodiesel was also mentioned, but its performance in cold weather is a concern.

     

    Staff Mode Shift:

    Lily discussed the ways that this project will reduce single occupancy vehicles. One idea looked at was bike sharing, which has been tried by Purdue but does not have much payback economically. Lily also discussed “It’s your MTD too”, which features social bus-riding trips which introduce MTD to campus employees.

     

    Bike Plan:

    This was a summary of effort to make campus more bike-friendly. This would include having more, and better, bike parking. UIUC was recently recognized as a bronze-level Bike Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists.

     

    Future Meetings

    We decided that every other Friday at 1pm is a good time to hold meetings. We will be holding meetings in the National Soybean Research Laboratory. Our clerk Josh will send out reminders.

    Attached Files: 

  13. Trans002 Parking Survey recommendation - Assessment with comments

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Transportation SWATeam Recommendations Summary
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    The iCAP Working Group (iWG) met on April 2, 2015, to discuss and start the assessment of the SWATeam recommendation, Trans002 Parking Survey. The iWG's recommendation was:

    "The iWG endorses this recommendation with the stipulation that survey questions should be vetted by the Transportation SWATeam and/or the iWG before the survey is performed."

    See attached the iWG assessment complete with official comments from all the SWATeam members.

    See SWATeam recommendation Trans002 Parking Survey here.

    Attached Files: 

  15. Trans002 Parking Survey recommendation - Submittal

    Associated Project(s): 
    Transportation SWATeam
    Transportation SWATeam Recommendations Summary
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus

    The Transportation SWATeam submitted a recommendation stating, "We recommend that Parking Services organize a survey to gauge stakeholder interest in alternative parking plans. More specifically, a survey to gather data on how receptive stakeholders would be to parking plans which included a smaller amount of parking days per year to permit alternative commuting modes when this is feasible."

    See attached the SWATeam recommendation, Trans002 Parking Survey, complete with comments from all the Transportation SWATeam members.

    Attached Files: 

  16. Mode Shift update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Reduce Cars (Vehicle Miles Traveled) on Campus
    Multi-Modal Transportation Study

    CUUATS completed a University District Traffic Circulation Study, using information from a campus-wide statistically relevant survey.

    The following table shows the mode share information based on the survey conducted in April-May, 2011.

    Level

    Travel Mode (%)

    Walk

    Bike

    Transit

    Drive Alone

    Carpool

    Get a Ride

    Other

    Faculty

    9

    18

    10

    51.9

    9

    1.9

    0

    Staff

    5.4

    6.4

    9.1

    65.2

    9.7

    3.5

    0.6

    Freshman

    50.2

    12

    34.8

    0.7

    0.2

    0.7

    1.4

    Sophomore

    53.1

    9.1

    34.1

    1.6

    0.3

    0

    1

    Junior

    48.5

    12.6

    28.8

    8.6

    0.6

    0.9

    0

    Senior

    49.1

    10.5

    27.1

    11.2

    1.4

    0.4

    0.4

    Masters

    23.4

    13

    41.3

    18.4

    2.1

    1.8

    0

    PhD

    20.1

    15.2

    39

    20.8

    3.4

    1.6

    0

     

    Attached Files: 
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