| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 61.53 |
| Liaison | Rachael Wein |
| Submission Date | March 2, 2020 |
Smith College
OP-16: Commute Modal Split
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.44 / 5.00 |
Rachael
Wein Assistant Director of Sustainability CEEDS |
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment:
Full-time equivalent of employees:
Has the institution gathered data about student commuting behavior?:
Total percentage of students that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting:
95% of Smith's students live on campus, so they walk or bike across campus to class each day. Even though they might have a student parking permit and have a vehicle parked on campus, they are using their vehicle to travel away from the campus, rather than driving around the campus to class.
5%, of Smith's students live off campus. While most of them live in Northampton just a few miles from campus, we cannot determine if they walk, bike, take the bus, or drive alone to campus. Since we cannot determine their mode of transportation, we assume to be conservative that they all may drive to campus with only the driver in the vehicle.
Has the institution gathered data about employee commuting behavior?:
Total percentage of employees that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation:
A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about employee commuting:
The survey performed in 2016 investigated the specific daily commute habits of our employees. Our employee total has minimally changed in the subsequent years. We have not deployed a new commuter survey. Our data for this submission is based on the total number of employees who have purchased parking permits and the total number who have applied for parking opt-out and thus consistently use alternative transportation.
The limitation of our current accounting of employees who use more sustainable commuting options does not consider any particular daily commute choices by employees. Thus, an employee could purchase a parking decal (the cost is very low at $50/year), but use alternative transit one or more times a week. However, we think our new accounting does more clearly indicated the primary mode of transportation. In addition, the parking program just recently shifted from being under Campus Police's control to Facilities Management (effective Jan 1, 2019
). We are beginning to brainstorm with Facilities Management on the best way to track and benchmark employee commuting methods.
From previous STARS application:
A statistically significant number of employees (800) were polled in a survey in January 2016 about their commuting habits and the distance they live from campus. This allowed us to establish on average how far staff and faculty are commuting each day, how many trips they make per week, and their method of commuting.
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 | 5 | 95 |
| Zero-emissions vehicle | --- | 3 |
| Walk, cycle, or other non-motorized mode | 94 | 4.77 |
| Vanpool or carpool | 0 | 1.03 |
| Public transport or campus shuttle | 0 | 0.95 |
| Motorcycle, motorized scooter/bike, or moped | 0 | 0 |
| Distance education / telecommute | --- | --- |
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 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.