Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.67
Liaison Julie Newman
Submission Date Sept. 30, 2021

STARS v2.2

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.25 / 5.00 MIT Office of Sustainability
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total full-time equivalent student enrollment:
11,261

Full-time equivalent of employees:
10,239

Part 1. Student commute modal split

Has the institution gathered data about student commuting behavior?:
Yes

Total percentage of students that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
97

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting:
Every two years, MIT administers a Commuting Survey to all staff and students via email to understand how the MIT community commutes to campus. The State of Massachusetts and the City of Cambridge require that MIT collect data related to how students and staff get to MIT every day. In addition, this survey gives MIT the opportunity to find out if transportation-related services (subsidized rail and metro passes, bicycle racks, parking access, etc.) are meeting community needs. The most recent survey was completed in 2018. For more information, see: https://ir.mit.edu/commuting-2018/.

Part 2. Employee commute modal split

Has the institution gathered data about employee commuting behavior?:
Yes

Total percentage of employees that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
72

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about employee commuting:
Every two years, MIT administers a Commuting Survey to all staff and students via email to understand how the MIT community commutes to campus. The State of Massachusetts and the City of Cambridge require that MIT collect data related to how students and staff get to MIT every day. In addition, this survey gives MIT the opportunity to find out if transportation-related services (subsidized rail and metro passes, bicycle racks, parking access, etc.) are meeting community needs. The most recent survey was completed in 2018. For more information, see: https://ir.mit.edu/commuting-2018/.

Optional Fields 

Percentage of students and employees that use the following as their primary mode of transportation:
Percentage of students (0-100) Percentage of employees (0-100)
Single-occupancy vehicle 1.02 25
Zero-emissions vehicle 0.06 0.87
Walk, cycle, or other non-motorized mode 74.67 19
Vanpool or carpool 4.55 4
Public transport or campus shuttle 17.74 49
Motorcycle, motorized scooter/bike, or moped 0.03 0.25
Distance education / telecommute 0 6

Website URL where information about student or employee commuting is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The responses for this credit are based on MIT's 2018 Commuting Survey, which was administered by MIT Institutional Research. The 2018 survey results are available here: https://ir.mit.edu/commuting-2018/. Due to the pandemic, MIT is in the process of designing guidance and policies around flexible work arrangements for employees, which will affect commuting moving forward. Institutional Research plans to conduct the next Commuting Survey in the fall of 2022.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.