Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
---|---|
Overall Score | 61.04 |
Liaison | Tina Woolston |
Submission Date | March 1, 2019 |
Executive Letter | Download |
Tufts University
OP-16: Student Commute Modal Split
Status | Score | Responsible Party |
---|---|---|
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1.69 / 2.00 |
Shoshana
Blank Education and Outreach Program Administrator Office of Sustainability |
Total percentage of students (graduate and undergraduate) that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary means of transportation:
A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting, including the timeframe for when the analysis was conducted and how a representative sample was reached, if applicable:
The percentage of students that use each of the following modes as their primary means of transportation to get to and from campus::
Percentage (0-100) | |
Commute with only the driver in the vehicle (excluding motorcycles and scooters) | 15.60 |
Walk, bicycle, or use other non-motorized means | 65.10 |
Vanpool or carpool | 1.70 |
Take a campus shuttle or public transportation | 17.40 |
Use a motorcycle, scooter or moped | 0.20 |
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:
To obtain the numbers above, the total commutes for all 5 days of the week for each mode of transportation were averaged (e.g., 1146 students walked or cycled to campus on Monday, 1139 on Tuesday, 1126 on Wednesday, 1109 on Thursday, and 1065 on Friday - these numbers were added together to give a total number of walking/cycling commutes in the week). The total number of respondents to each of the five days were added up (5,585 for walk/cycle), then divided by 0.359 so that we could get the total one-way commute trips for 100% of the off-campus population (15,565). We then took our 3,564 on -campus students, assumed they each walked for five days that week (3,564*5 = 17,820) and then added those walking trips to the off-campus trips = 33,385 walk/cycle trips total. This represents the numerator, and we used the total number of responses over the five days as the denominator (51,257 when including 100% of off-campus and on-campus students), to get an average mode share over the course of the five days. This excludes anyone who listed they did not come to campus on a given day.
Students completing the survey could select one of the following commuting modes: Drove my own car, Drove my own motorcycle or moped, Carpool, Walked or cycled, MBTA Bus, Subway (the T), Tufts Davis Square Shuttle, Commuter Rail/Regional Train, and "I was not on campus".
The weather during the week was as follows (from wunderground.com):
Monday: mean temp 51 degrees F, precipitation 0.00"
Tuesday: mean temp 56 degrees F, precipitation 0.00"
Wednesday: mean temp 52 degrees F, precipitation 0.72"
Thursday: mean temp 59 degrees F, precipitation 0.21"
Friday: mean temp 52 degrees F, precipitation 0.54"
There were a few assumptions we had to make here. We had to assume that the self-reported off-campus students did not include students who live very close to or even on-campus, but not in university housing. This includes some students who live in Greek Houses on campus that are not owned by Tufts. We also assumed that 100% of students living in university housing walked for their commutes all 5 days of the week. We also got these full-time student numbers based on fall 2017 enrollment, when this survey was distributed in spring 2018. Many students study abroad during the spring semester, so the total number of students is probably a bit smaller.
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.