University of Wisconsin-Madison
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

Data was compiled as part of the 2020 Biennial Transportation Survey (completed March 12, 2021 and available here: https://deh3q06fonbca.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2021/04/2020-Biennial-Transportation-Survey-Report-With-Appendices.pdf)

The survey targets were registered UW-Madison students, UW-Madison faculty and staff, and UW Hospital and Clinics staff. The survey targets were identified by collecting email addresses from data sources. If a member of the above identified groups did not have an email address on file, they were not included in the final survey sample. It is assumed that the majority of survey targets had an active email address.

Email addresses were sampled from the following populations:
- 8,430 records were obtained from UW Health for all employees that may work at the UW Hospital main campus.
- 43,073 records were obtained from the Registrar’s office for enrolled UW–Madison students.
- 21,499 records were obtained from the UW-Madison Office of Human Resources.

A target of 500 responses for each of the three categories has been used in past surveys and is the target for this survey. Sampling 2,000 faculty and staff and 2,000 UW Hospital employees will typically yield at least 500 responses each. To obtain 500 responses from students the sample size was increased in 2020 to 4,000 due to the consistently low response rate of this segment.

Microsoft Excel was used to generate random numbers. These random numbers were assigned to email addresses. Those numbers were then sorted from lowest to highest and the first 2,000 (fac/staff & hospital) or 4,000 (student) records were selected for sampling.

Survey invitations were sent via email beginning on Tuesday October 27, 2020. A second email contained a reminder to take the survey and was sent eight (8) days after the first email. A third email (second reminder) was sent seven (7) days after the first reminder. A final email reminder was sent on November 20th to students only to encourage participation from that group. The survey closed at 5 p.m. on Friday November 19, 2020 for faculty and staff and hospital staff, at at 5 p.m. on Friday November 4th, 2020 for students.

Data was compiled as part of the 2020 Biennial Transportation Survey (completed March 12, 2021 and available here: https://deh3q06fonbca.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2021/04/2020-Biennial-Transportation-Survey-Report-With-Appendices.pdf)

The survey targets were registered UW-Madison students, UW-Madison faculty and staff, and UW Hospital and Clinics staff. The survey targets were identified by collecting email addresses from data sources. If a member of the above identified groups did not have an email address on file, they were not included in the final survey sample. It is assumed that the majority of survey targets had an active email address.

Email addresses were sampled from the following populations:
- 8,430 records were obtained from UW Health for all employees that may work at the UW Hospital main campus.
- 43,073 records were obtained from the Registrar’s office for enrolled UW–Madison students.
- 21,499 records were obtained from the UW-Madison Office of Human Resources.

A target of 500 responses for each of the three categories has been used in past surveys and is the target for this survey. Sampling 2,000 faculty and staff and 2,000 UW Hospital employees will typically yield at least 500 responses each. To obtain 500 responses from students the sample size was increased in 2020 to 4,000 due to the consistently low response rate of this segment.

Microsoft Excel was used to generate random numbers. These random numbers were assigned to email addresses. Those numbers were then sorted from lowest to highest and the first 2,000 (fac/staff & hospital) or 4,000 (student) records were selected for sampling.

Survey invitations were sent via email beginning on Tuesday October 27, 2020. A second email contained a reminder to take the survey and was sent eight (8) days after the first email. A third email (second reminder) was sent seven (7) days after the first reminder. A final email reminder was sent on November 20th to students only to encourage participation from that group. The survey closed at 5 p.m. on Friday November 19, 2020 for faculty and staff and hospital staff, at at 5 p.m. on Friday November 4th, 2020 for students.

Commuting option results are displayed in Table 4 and 5 on Page 15 of the linked report. Respondents were asked to provide their primary mode of commuting in good weather and bad weather, with large percentages of students and faculty/staff saying heavy rain, low temperatures, and heavy snow encompasses bad weather. Office of Sustainability staff analyzed the last two fiscal years of weather data with the following characteristics constituting bad weather:
- Precipitation greater than 1 inch
- Snowfall greater than 0.75 inches
- Snow depth greater than 0 inches
- Average temperature below 20 degrees
- Average temperature above 90 degrees

Survey data on commuters utilizing the "Drop-Off" mode was included in the "Vanpool or Carpool" input. Survey data on commuters using the "Private Bus" mode was included in the "Public Transport or Campus Shuttle" input. Survey data on commuters utilizing an "Other" mode was not included in the data reported above.

The 2020 survey reflected travel habits during the COVID-19 pandemic when driving alone and avoiding public transit for social distancing reasons appeared more common. Many classes were fully remote and later were held in a hybrid setting. Many employees also worked from home.