Dawson College
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

The last time a student transportation survey was administered by the Quality Assurance & Planning Office was from April 30 to May 8, 2022. The survey was completed by 2904 students. The results showed that 4.62% of students use active methods (walking, biking), 84.44% use public transport (bus and subway), 4.72% carpool and 5.88% drive to work alone. The remainer take motorcycles, uber, taxis. (statistics taken removing those that participated in survey but did not come in during the week). The same process was used as mentioned below in previous transportation surveys.

High numbers are consistent with past results. Dawson's urban setting with a direct subway tunnel connection, bus stop, Bixi Bike location and its walking distance for many cretes a prime public transit and alternative transportation site. 

This is the third time the Transportation Survey was administered to the Dawson community by the Quality Assurance & Planning Office of the college. The survey for students was uploaded to Omnivox on October 9th, 2021 and made available to all students until October 17th, 2021. A total of 5,066 students completed the survey: 4,282 Day students and 784 Continuing Education students, representing over 50% of the student population. 409 staff completed the survey, representing 33.2% of active employees.

The survey for students enrolled in Regular Day programs was developed by the Quality Assurance and Planning Office and the Office of Sustainability staff. The survey was based on the guidelines published in the STARS Technical Manual with regard to criterion OP 16: Student Commute Modal Split.
Students could access the survey via the MyDawson portal. Students received a notification of the survey when they logged into the portal and the survey was also advertised on the College’s Facebook page.
Students were asked to indicate what mode of transportation they used during the previous week. If they took more than one mode of transportation to school each day, they were instructed to only count the mode taken for the longest distance during their commute to and from school.
The College offers two types of programs: pre-university and technical/career.

The last time an employee transportation survey was administered by the Quality Assurance & Planning Office was from April 30 to May 8, 2022. The survey was completed by 386 staff. The results showed that 15.22% of staff use active methods (walking, biking), 57.86% use public transport (bus and subway) and 20.16% drive to work alone. The remainer take motorcycles, uber, taxis. (statistics taken removing those that participated in survey but did not come in during the week). The same process was used as mentioned below in previous transportation surveys.

This is the third time the Transportation Survey was administered to the Dawson community. The survey for employees was uploaded to Omnivox on October 9th, 2021 and made available to a list of 1,233 active employees provided by Human Resources. The survey was accessible until October 17th, 2021 and a total of 409 employees completed the survey for a response rate of 33.2%.

72.5% of staff use active or public transit. This was an average taken over a 5 day period during the fall semester.

A survey for faculty and staff was developed by Quality Assurance and Planning Office and the Sustainability Coordinator.

The survey was posted on Omnivox. Faculty and staff could access the survey via the MyDawson portal. Faculty and staff received a notification of the survey when they logged into the portal and an email was sent by the Coordinator of the Quality Assurance and Planning Office to faculty and staff advising them of the survey and encouraging them to participate.

Faculty and staff were asked to indicate what mode of transportation they used during the previous week. If they took more than one mode of transportation to school each day, they were instructed to only count the mode taken for the longest distance during their commute to and from school.

Following are descriptions of the different modal possibilities to reach Dawson. Presumably, a significant portion of Dawson employees are multi-modal, they either use different modes (drive to train station, take train, then take metro), or they may switch modes by season (bicycle in summer, transit in winter) or switch modes according to daily circumstances (cars when they start later, transit when they are in rush hour). The surveys asked the respondents to name only their primary mode of transport and we are not able to establish the portion who rely on a combination of modes.

Interesting observation based on feedback review:149 cpmments from employees were also collected, providing valuable detailed feedback about infrastructure, challenges and validation of transportation-related issues they face. Each of the modes of transport has a different impact on the local landscape, on the environment and on how people perceive the space around Dawson and how Dawson fits into the space it occupies. People who come to Dawson by subway and through the underground college tunnel entrance may never see Dawson as integrated into its area, and this may be of very low importance to them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, people who walk to Dawson might see the landscape develop seasonally and experience the neighborhood. As they get closer to Dawson, they are most likely to perceive the “naturalizing” role the Dawson landscape plays - on the margin of the very urbanized western downtown and the well-vegetated municipality of Westmount. 

Car and bicycle users are situated in between these two perceptions as the progression of the landscape is more obvious to them, but they are more likely to be moving quickly through the landscape and therefore pay less attention to it. 

This perception of the space necessarily impacts the relationship people will have with it both in the broad sense of how Dawson fits into its surroundings and the role it may play in an urban setting and in how a person may perceive the importance of the Dawson landscape on its own. It may also impact how they see the potential development of the space and how they perceive safety issues related to mobility.