Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 73.37
Liaison Olivia Herron
Submission Date Feb. 28, 2022

STARS v2.2

Miami University
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.53 / 5.00 Adam Sizemore
Director of Sustainability
Physical Facilities Department
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total full-time equivalent student enrollment:
16,963

Full-time equivalent of employees:
3,194

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:
82.50

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting:

Data is specific to FY21 figures and calculations.

In FY2021, Miami University administered a commuting survey, attached to the parking permit purchase process to estimate frequency rates (in conjunction with mapping addresses in GIS) to calculate commuting emissions for the PCLC. As a part of the survey, we ask participants to report their breakdown of the mode of transportation (i.e fuel-powered vehicle, EV vehicle, walk, bike, etc.) as a total percentage.

We first removed duplicates and missing values from the analysis. If a student indicated 60% or more of their daily commute using a fuel-powered vehicle, we did not determine their primary mode of transportation as sustainable. Thus, everyone reporting less than 60% was deemed having primary mode transportation as sustainable. A total of 367 students indicated 60% or more of their daily commute to campus was using a fuel-powered vehicle.

Given Miami University as a primarily residential school, we compared the above figure with students only holding a parking pass. We omitted the first and second year students, as we made the assumption the majority are living on campus and have a parking pass to have a vehicle on campus. This totaled 2,094 students.

From this, the calculation was as follows: 367/2094 = 17.5%
100-17.5 = 82.5 % using some form of sustainable transportation as their primary mode of commuting.

This estimation is comparable to previous estimations only using GIS software and assumptions (see 2019 STARS report).


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:
7.60

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about employee commuting:

Data is specific to FY21 figures and calculations.

In FY2021, Miami University administered a commuting survey, attached to the parking permit purchase process to estimate frequency rates (in conjunction with mapping addresses in GIS) to calculate commuting emissions for the PCLC. As a part of the survey, we ask participants to report their breakdown of the mode of transportation (i.e fuel-powered vehicle, EV vehicle, walk, bike, etc.) as a total percentage.

We first removed duplicates and missing values from the analysis. We received a total of 1,798 responses. If a faculty or staff member indicated 60% or more of their daily commute using a fuel-powered vehicle, we did not determine their primary mode of transportation as sustainable. Thus, everyone reporting less than 60% was deemed having primary mode transportation as sustainable. A total of 1,662 staff/faculty indicated 60% or more of their daily commute to campus was using a fuel-powered vehicle.

From this, the calculation was as follows: 1,662/1,798 = 92.6
We proportionately calculated this to compare to the total staff/faculty population of 3,908
100-92.6 = 7.6 % using some form of sustainable transportation as their primary mode of commuting.

This estimation is comparable to previous estimations only using GIS software and assumptions (see 2019 STARS report).


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 --- ---
Zero-emissions vehicle --- ---
Walk, cycle, or other non-motorized mode --- ---
Vanpool or carpool 0 0
Public transport or campus shuttle 0 0
Motorcycle, motorized scooter/bike, or moped 0 0
Distance education / telecommute --- 0

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:

Contact Susan Meikle meiklesb@miamioh.edu


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.