Wellesley College
OP-20: Employee Commute Modal Split

Wellesley employs approximately 1,260 faculty and staff. In 2015, commuters travel an average of approximately 12 miles (with the range of commutes spanning 0-216 miles each way). During 2008 (the last year for which we have commuting emissions data), faculty/staff commuting accounted for about 8% of college transportation-related emissions. We collected commuting data from over 500 participants that allows us to assess the average number of days that people commute to campus, the average distance traveled, and mode(s) of transportation used and the likelihood of carpooling. Of those 500 responses, roughly 60% were staff and 38% were faculty (the remaining 2% classified themselves as “other”). Our survey indicates that over 80% of faculty/staff drive to work by themselves. Commuters travel an average of 12 miles (one way) to get to work at Wellesley. Most employees (63.3%) commute to work 5+ days/week, with 21.4% commuting 4 days/week, 11% commuting 3 days per week and less than 4% commuting less than 2 days per week. Of the employees who drive themselves to work, approximately 16% said they would consider carpooling and about 15% said they would probably consider carpooling. About half (49%) said probably not and about 19% indicated they would not carpool (mostly due to erratic schedules and shuttling their children back and forth).

Information on telecommuting is not available. Each department has their own rules on telecommuting, but the program is becoming more popular each year.