University of Southern California
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

For this credit:
- “Non-commuters” are defined as students presumably walking, taking non-motorized transportation modes, or not commuting to USC at all
- “Commuters” are defined as students taking motorized transportation/public transit to USC

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The number of non-commuters was estimated by adding the following groups:
- Students living in USC Housing (presumably walk/bike/use non-motorized transit to get to classes)
- Students living in Greek Life housing adjacent to campus (presumably walk/bike/use non-motorized transit to get to classes)
- Students living in private apartments directly adjacent to campus (presumably walk/bike/use non-motorized transit to get to classes)
- Students enrolled exclusively in distance learning (do not commute to campus)

The number of commuters was found by subtracting the number of non-commuters from the total number of USC students.

The number of on-campus student parking permits purchased in FY19 was obtained from the USC Transportation office. USC Transportation estimates that 10% of commuters commute via single-occupancy vehicles but park off-campus and therefore do not purchase USC parking passes. The total number of students commuting to USC via SOV was found by adding the total number of purchased student parking passes to 10% of the total number of commuters.

From this data, the percentage of students commuting to USC via SOV was found by taking the number of SOV commuters divided by the total number of students. This allowed USC to calculate the percentage of all other non-SOV commuters (i.e., students that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation), which is 82.86%.

See additional documentation for more information.

USC Transportation surveys all USC employee commuters annually to track how they travel to and from campus and reports the results to the South Coast California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), as required by law. The survey is voluntary, but each survey achieves a final response rate of at least 90% of employees. The survey asks respondents to describe how they got to work each day of a specific week. In 2019, the survey was conducted between March 18 and March 22.

For this credit, respondents to the 2019 SCAQMD survey are representing the total number of USC employees. The data in the "Optional Fields" below represents the breakdown of employee commuters per commute mode as a percentage of total respondents to the 2019 survey. This breakdown was used to calculate that 52.3% of employees use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation.

The data from these annual surveys reveals an 18 percent drop in employee single-occupancy vehicle use between 2014-2019. USC’s required target Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) – or the weighted average number of occupants in each vehicle that drives to campus – is 1.50. The university has outperformed this target every year for over a decade. USC's 2019 AVR was 2.00, meaning that, on average, vehicles coming to campus in 2019 had an average of 2 occupants.

USC Transportation launched a Commuter Cost Calculator to enable employees to calculate the cost savings and emissions reductions of enrolling in USC's Transit Subsidy Program.
Website link: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/commuter-cost-calculator/

Additional information on commute options at USC:
- Traveler program: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/traveler/
- Faculty & staff transit subsidy: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/faculty-staff-subsidy/
- Carpooling: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/carpool/
- Public transportation: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/public-transportation/
- Disabled Access To Road Transportation (DART): https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/disabled-access-to-road-transportation-dart/
- Graduate Student U-Pass: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/student-u-pass/
- Zipcar: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/zipcar/