Green Mountain College
OP-21: Support for Sustainable Transportation

The GMC athletic department allows all bicycle commuters to use shower and locker facilities. Bicycle commuters may also use the shower in our newly renovated Bentley community center. Bike parking is abundant on central campus with dozens of racks. Additionally, a REED intensive class completed construction of a prominent bike shelter, centrally located outside of the student center. It was funded by the Student Campus Greening Fund and the project was led by two students who began the effort as part of their delicate balance class (a requirement of the Environmental Liberal Arts Core Curriculum).

Short-term bicycle racks are strategically located outside and close to every residence hall on campus and most of the major buildings. Moreover, the most central residence hall, Moses, has covered bike racks located under the front steps of the building. A dedicated bike shelter next to the student center was also built by students in 2014. Long-term bicycle storage is available within every residence hall in storage rooms. Students have to write their names on a green tag so that storage items can be recovered. Many students store bikes in these rooms.

The College is committed to keeping central campus free of motorized vehicles. The campus consists of a network of paved walkways that are meant for bicycles, skateboards, pedestrians, and other non-motorized forms of transportation. These are safe walkways for bicycles and pedestrians to travel on and they are used for the vast majority of transportation on campus. Vehicles are not even useful for getting around on central campus because they can only drive on the periphery. This networks connects to a bus stop by Bogue Hall, where students, staff, or faculty can ride the Marble Valley Regional Transit bus for free with their College ID. It stops at the bus stop five times a day, seven days a week. This bus service can transport people throughout the region on multiple different routes. GMC also offers a free shuttle to students that runs every day of the week from central campus.

The campus bike-sharing program, known as “Green Bikes” was created in 2009 through funding from the Student Campus Greening Fund, a student run grant program that funds GMC campus greening initiatives. Any GMC community member may check out a bike free of charge, for 24-48 hours. The Bike Shop provides routine maintenance for the bikes. A large grant purchased nine bicycles to start the program in 2009. An additional grant funded a paid student manager to facilitate this project, under the supervision of a staff adviser. Now the program is run by the Bike Shop on campus, which is a student club. As of 2014, the total fleet included the following: 7 mountain bikes 6 road/cruiser bikes 1 tandem bike 2 metal trailers for hauling material

GMC operates a free campus shuttle to provide service to health care providers during the week and retail/entertainment hubs on the weekends. Shuttles also run to regional bus hubs, train stations, and airports before and after breaks for a small fee. In addition, GMC has a contract with the Marble Valley Transit District (the regional bus service) to provide unlimited free trips to any staff, faculty, or student with a valid College ID. The bus service stops five times per day at the College (seven days per week) and offers several area routes, including multiple trips to the region’s largest city, Rutland. The Bus had 1,055 riders from GMC in FY 2013 (an average of almost two trips per residential student).

GMC is official partners with Go Vermont, the state's carpooling database that uses Zimride for its matching tool. Every student, staff, or faculty member who registers with Go Vermont and who carpools twice per week is automatically eligible for up to six guaranteed rides per year. The user calls Go Vermont's hotline to find an alternative ride if their carpooling partner doesn't show up or if they have to return early due to an emergency. They can then submit a reimbursement form to Go Vermont for the cost of the ride. Rides may be reimbursed up to $70.

GMC is official partners with Go Vermont, the free carpool matching program offered by the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The Go Vermont website is linked from the GMC Sustainable Transportation page, and information about it is available through Auxiliary Services and Student Life. People who carpool can take advantage of priority parking spaces reserved for carpoolers in the Brennan Circle in the front of campus. The decision to partner with Go Vermont came from a focus group run by the Sustainability Office and Student Involvement Office in the spring of 2013. The goals of the focus group (consisting of staff, students, and faculty) were to 1) conduct a survey to answer key questions about improving carpooling on campus, 2) choose an online platform that will serve the community better, and 3) brainstorm incentives for increasing use of the online tool. The focus group, comprised of students, staff, and faculty members met four times, successfully conducted a survey with a 45% response rate, and decided that Zimride would be the best online platform to use through a partnership with Go Vermont and their database. A full campaign, complete with incentives, new student orientation activities, and a sustainable transportation fair launched in the fall of 2013.

GMC students, faculty, and staff can join ZIPCAR for only $25/year. Departments can join for free. All participants have access 24/7 to two Zipcars parked next to the student center in the center of campus. Cars may be reserved online or via text message. The benefits of carsharing are communicated frequently to students, staff, and faculty through announcements to staff and faculty workshops, through articles written for the student newspaper, and through the sustainability office’s social network accounts such as Facebook and Twitter. The media outreach describes the cost savings of using Zipcar versus owning and maintaining a personal vehicle on campus.

In 2013 we installed a level 2 solar charging station powered by two solar trackers behind Dunton Hall. The charging station sits adjacent to two parking spaces that must be left open for people who want to charge their vehicles. Charging is free for any member of the College or Town communities. The charging station is also listed on several public charging station maps available online.

Even though there is not an official telecommuting program on campus, many faculty members teach from home in online courses and take advantage of the college’s “flex time” schedule so that they do not have to be on campus every business day. Some departments also allow employees to do this on a limited basis.

The College allows faculty members to arrange their work week so that they do not have to be on campus for the full week as long as their division chair and dean of faculty approves. Many faculty members take advantage of this “flex time,” especially when they are involved in teaching one or more online classes and only come to the college twice per week. Many staff members are also on “flex time” schedules.

The College offers a bicycle cost reinbursement program for commuters who bike to work. The benefit covers routine maintenance, repairs and supplies associated with commuting up to $20 per month or $240 per year.