Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.92
Liaison Caitlin Steele
Submission Date June 8, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

San Francisco State University
IN-26: Innovation C

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 1.00 Nick Kordesch
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Gator Pass

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:

As of Fall 2017, all SF State students pay $180 each semester for a “Gator Pass” that provides unlimited travel on San Francisco MUNI and a 25% discount on Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) trips to or from the BART Daly City Station, which is close to campus. While a number of local universities have student bus passes, SF State was the first university to offer a BART discount in combination with the municipal pass.

The Gator Pass was a student-driven initiative that required careful negotiation and approval from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, BART, Clipper, the Student Fee Advisory Committee, the University President, and the California State University Chancellor. SF State students had long sought more affordable public transportation. Ninety percent of SF State students are commuters and over half of SF State students rely on public transportation. Commute costs are significant and public transportation are much. Associated Students started and effort for a universal transit pass in 2014. In Spring 2015, Associated Students passed a resolution in favor holding a student referendum vote during the April 2016 election to ask the student body to approve a universal student fee. SF State students voted 73 percent in favor of the Gator Pass.

To accommodate the pass, SF State issued new identification cards that incorporate Clipper, the Bay Area's integrated transit card.

The University is conducting a campus-wide transportation survey in May 2018 that will provide comprehensive data on how the Gator Pass is changing commute patterns. Initial results showed that the Gator Pass was used on 103,500 rides between any two BART stations and on 73,800 commute trips to and from the SF State campus. Prior to the Gator Pass' implementation, about 36% of students commuted to campus via Muni and 21% used BART. Since the Gator Pass launched, 60% of students used the pass at least once on Muni and 40% used it on BART.

One of the goals of the Gator Pass was to reduce emissions from SF State's commutes. While we do not have conclusive results on the mode shift achieved by the Gator Pass, any shift to Muni or BART will have significant reductions in scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. SF Muni is mostly powered by hydroelectric power and BART has very low emissions per passenger compared to single occupancy vehicles.


Which of the following impact areas does the innovation most closely relate to? (select up to three):
Transportation
Waste
Coordination & Planning

A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
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The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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.