Leading by Example
The list of Transportation Leaders is comprised of 34 schools that earned "A" grades in this category. Below is a sample of 11 very different institutions that all have innovative transportation initiatives. These summaries are based on data from each school’s profile page.
At Bates College, pedestrian-friendly planning and a Zipcar program, which offers hybrid vehicles for rent, reduce the number of cars on campus. For an annual fee, students, faculty, and staff can join the Bike Co-op and receive a key to access bicycles parked around campus.
Through Davidson College’s shared bike program, the school restores abandoned bicycles and offers them for use to the campus community. Davidson owns four hybrid vehicles and provides a free shuttle to local retail areas three days per week during the school year. The landscape master plan restricts traffic to the campus perimeter.
Emory University has a free shuttle bus service throughout campus and surrounding neighborhoods that is 100 percent alternatively fueled; the buses run primarily on biofuel made from used cooking oil from the campus cafeterias and hospitals. Members of the campus community who take public transit, bike, or walk to work may use university hybrid flex-cars for errands throughout the day, free of charge. Emory has a bike program consisting of giveaways, incentives, a mobile bike repair station, and loaner bike fleets.
The Swarthmore College campus is a pedestrian zone with parking lots limited to the perimeter of the campus. Just over 100 student parking permits are issued each year, limiting the number of cars on campus.
The University of California - San Diego has a fleet with over 225 electric vehicles and 30 hybrids. UC–Irvine uses 100 percent biodiesel in all of its campus shuttles; Santa Barbara and Davis students receive free public transportation; and Santa Cruz has a bicycle shuttle program.
As part of the Rural Initiative at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Chancellor Harvey Perlman mandated in 2005 that UNL’s fleet of 870 vehicles be powered by biodiesel or an ethanol-blend fuel produced primarily from Nebraska crops.
The University of New Hampshire’s transportation program includes free bike rentals, a carpool lot and program, and free shuttles that circulate around campus and connect to off-campus destinations and transportation hubs. In addition, a fleet of eight buses run on a 20 percent biodiesel blend, there are six compressed natural gas shuttle buses and an all-electric utility van, and hybrid vehicles are available for rent by the campus community.
At the University of Tulsa, changes in parking regulations were implemented to restrict residents from parking in lots other than those at their dorm or apartment. Shuttles utilizing compressed natural gas provide students and employees with an alternative mode of transportation. A bike program implemented in 2006 now has 268 free bicycles.
Virginia Tech’s alternative transportation program is supported by a full-time manager who serves to encourage members of the campus community to bike, walk, or use public transit. Faculty, staff, and students can travel on public transit fare-free by showing their university ID card and there are other incentives to use alternative modes of transportation. Virginia Tech has received over $400,000 in federal enhancement grants to build bike trails and bike lanes, as well as to provide other bicycling amenities on campus.
At Willamette University, gas-powered work vehicles are being replaced with electric vehicles, and hybrids are used for campus security vehicles. A campus bike shop provides free services to the community. A car-sharing program is open to all students, faculty, and staff. A rideshare webpage connects carpoolers.
As part of Yale University’s commitment to the implementation of a campus-wide transportation demand management system, the university hired a director of sustainable transportation in the spring of 2007. Currently, the shuttle fleet is running on an ultra-low sulfur diesel and 20 percent biodiesel blend. There are seven hybrid vehicles on campus, utilized by several departments including parking and transit and grounds maintenance.