On May 15, 2014, the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida (and home for Best Workplaces for Commuters) hosted a webinar entitled, University Campuses as Leaders in the Shift Away from Driving, featuring Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst for Tax & Budget Policy, U.S. PIRG. The recording of this webinar is now available for viewing.
Summary: Americans aged 16 to 34 years of age reduced their annual driving miles by 23 percent per person between 2001 and 2009, according to research based on the most recent data from the Federal Highway Administration that is included in the study. As Millennials lead a national shift away from driving, universities are giving students new options for getting around and becoming innovators in transportation policy. Colleges and universities are showing that efforts to meet increased demand for transportation options deliver powerful benefits for their community and surrounding areas. These efforts are saving money for universities, and improving the quality of life on campus.
The webinar discussed the findings of a report released by the USPIRG Education Fund titled, “A New Course: How Innovative University Programs Are Reducing Driving on Campus and Creating New Models for Transportation Policy.” Phineas also describes how universities are improving their communities by providing a wider range of transportation choices. This includes buses, biking, various types of vehicle-sharing that makes it easier not to have a personal car, and convenient apps that make it easier to navigate the options. He’ll also talk about how campuses seek to avoid the steep costs of building additional parking facilities. Finally, he addressed how universities are paving the way for long term change because they have a lot in common with cities.
The report is the sixth in a series of studies on the national shift away from driving. The first report, Transportation and the New Generation, documents the dramatic decline of driving among Millennials. The second, A New Direction, examines the causes of declining driving and the implications for future transportation policy. The third, Moving Off the Road, documents state-by-state differences in declining driving, and shows how these differences do not correspond to how hard states were hit by the recession. The fourth, A New Way to Go, explores how new technologies and changing technological habits among Millennials are connected to the nation’s decline in driving and can encourage less car-dependent lifestyles in the future. The fourth report, Transportation in Transition, released in early December, examines the data on declining driving and increasing transit and biking in America’s 100 largest cities. View Recording | Download pdf copy of the slides
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