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9 Ways to Reduce Parking Demand and Traffic on Campus

Cars pose numerous challenges for colleges and universities. High volumes of vehicular traffic create congestion and negatively impact pedestrian safety. Demand for parking can be a costly headache for administrators, as increasing parking capacity is very costly and usually takes many years to recoup those expenses.

Given these issues, many educational institutions are looking for ways to cut traffic and reduce parking demand on campus. These nine strategies are known to have a positive impact, and are all well worth considering if you’re looking to encourage students, faculty, and staff to try alternative modes of commuting:

Switch to daily parking

One of the most effective, but also difficult, ways to influence parking demand is to allow commuters to only pay for parking on days they really need it. With monthly or annual parking passes, once commuters pay they may feel motivated to park more often because the cost has already been paid. When commuters switch over to a pay-per-use system, they often think twice before driving to campus.

Reserve the best parking spots for carpool vehicles

Many private sector employers use a related strategy to reduce parking demand: reserving conveniently located and priority parking places for carpool vehicles. This strategy is effective for two main reasons:

First, it acts as a free way of promoting your university ridesharing and commuter services program. Priority parking spots have high visibility, and giving exclusive use of them to carpool vehicles raises awareness among campus community members.

Second, it works to reduce campus parking demand by encouraging more people to participate in rideshare programs. Fewer vehicles on campus means more parking will remain available, easing congestion and parking woes while boosting safety and reducing  emissions.

Offer subsidized transit passes

Make buses, subways, and other local options more affordable and accessible to cash-strapped student populations by subsidizing monthly transit passes. You can drive high adoption and participation rates by bundling the cost of the subsidized pass in with each semester or academic year’s billing cycle. Students enjoy ongoing access to local transit networks for a low cost that’s covered up front, making public transportation access seem “free.”

Of course, to avoid hassles and headaches, it’s also good to work in an opt-out avenue for students who don’t want to participate.

Create staggered class schedules

Avoid having everyone piling onto campus at the same time by staggering class schedules based on traffic flow patterns. It may help to analyze if there are certain types of classes that tend to have a higher proportion of off-campus students and prioritize scheduling those during different times of the day.

In larger metro areas, it’s also a good idea to schedule classes during off-peak hours to the greatest possible extent. Citywide traffic congestion is usually much lower during the late morning and early afternoon, making these ideal times for students to be traveling to campus.

Offer creative alternatives

At the University of New England, freshmen who pledge not to drive to campus receive 35 free hours of Zipcar service. Administrators report the strategy has been very effective. The University of Louisville offers a similar program where students can opt to forego parking permits to participate in an earn-a-bike program and access to a $400 bicycle voucher.

Add secure bike parking

Place bike racks around campus in high-visibility places, and protect them with features such as weatherproofing and security cameras. If people know secure bike parking is always available, they’re more likely to use it.

As an alternative: consider installing a bikeshare station on campus, if bikeshares are available in your community and your campus doesn’t already participate. This lets students who don’t already own a bike become active commuters without requiring an expensive financial commitment.

Create a campus-wide ridesharing community

Interactive digital ridesharing boards make it fast and easy for campus members to find a ride to or from campus anytime of day or night. These can also be expanded to include intercity rides on weekends and during school breaks, helping students break free of expensive and inefficient solo driving habits.

Remember: making ridesharing a convenient, easily accessible alternative to solo driving is one of the best ways to reduce parking demand on campus.

Establish vanpool connections

Connect the campus to local public transportation hubs with a vanpool program. Such programs provide efficient, reliable, quick solutions to the so-called “last mile” problem. University vanpools are actually pretty easy to start, and they offer a far more favorable cost profile than building new parking facilities.

Try a rewards program

At the University of Arizona, campus community members who choose smart commuting modes can earn points they can then redeem for a variety of rewards like FitBits, Beats headphones, and university gear. In addition, just for signing up for the program users are eligible for 5 free Emergency Ride Home vouchers.

RideAmigos is already helping many universities reduce parking demand on campus, cut traffic, and help fight congestion and pollution in their local communities. We’d love for our cutting-edge commuter management apps to help you author an inspiring success story. Contact us today to get started.

Brandeis University’s Campus Carpooling Program Success

In 2017, Brandeis University adopted the RideAmigos software platform to help commuters more easily and efficiently manage their transportation needs. As the university was preparing to launch a RideAmigos-powered campus carpooling program, the school’s assistant director of English Language Programs, Amy Rinaldo, said, “Traffic can be long and stressful, and I also feel environmentally guilty and frustrated about my commute.” At the time, Rinaldo lived about nine miles from campus, and had been locked into the habit of solo driving. “[Solo commuting] takes a toll on life, which is why I was so excited about the possibility of carpooling.”

Now, just over a year later, it’s become clear that Rinaldo was far from alone in her feelings. Brandeis University officially launched their RideAmigos-powered carpooling program in October 2017, and the number of carpooling trips to and from campus nearly doubled after it was implemented.

Sustainability manager Mary Fischer noted, “We are making strides. More people realize that they live much closer to other Brandeisians, including those who have compatible schedules.” Since the launch of the campus carpooling program, Rinaldo has settled into a habit of ride-sharing about once a week, and tries to bike or take the train as often as possible. “Brandeis has a great community and carpooling has helped me meet people from across campus in a different capacity.”

The strong performance of the Brandeis campus carpooling program highlights a few of the key benefits of creating ride-sharing communities to serve educational institutions:

  • They fill a gap by providing a program that many people would use if it were available
  • They reduce commute-related stress and cost
  • They help commuters form new social connections

The RideAmigos commuter platform provides a complete suite of administrator-end and user-end tools that make it easy to create, join, and manage carpooling networks while connecting with community members looking to share rides. In our work with academic institutions, we’ve consistently found that commuters would be more than happy to use alternatives to solo driving if they were readily available, and that’s exactly what our platform achieves.

RideAmigos is proud to be a big part of the success of Brandeis’s campus carpooling program, and we’d love to help your organization become our next success story. To learn more, get started with RideAmigos today.

3 Ways to Improve University Ridesharing

Improve university ridesharing programs to cut costs and control demand for limited parking.

America’s colleges are booming. Over the past five years, enrollment rates have spiked by 17 percent. While that’s great for the state of higher education in the country, it also creates challenges for administrators. More growth generally means more cars, and finding places to put those cars can be difficult and expensive. Schools that improve university ridesharing programs can alleviate these issues, cutting costs along the way.

University ridesharing programs have emerged as a dynamic, environmentally friendly solution to parking reduction. Campus-wide initiatives that are accessible to students, faculty, and staff cast a wide net, giving community members flexible options for traveling to and from campus at practically any time of day or night.

Successful university ridesharing programs usually have three key strategies in common:

  • Education. People may be reluctant to share rides with strangers, or have the impression that ridesharing isn’t as convenient as other options. University ridesharing programs can be configured to limit matches to user networks or specific departments, and users can make regular or occasional use of other accessible options including transit or vanpool services.
  • Direct appeal. Use commuter surveys to glean insights into community-specific commuter behaviors, then custom-craft a strategy that best meets the needs of end users. Communicate and advertise this strategy over multiple channels, including on-campus publicity such as banners, posters, and signage, email, and social media.
  • Incentives. Games and incentive programs are proven ways to boost participation rates. Give commuters another good reason to take part by offering prizes and other perks to those who make the best use of available services.

Some schools, like the University of Louisville, go a step further by sponsoring innovative earn-a-bike programs. These programs offer bike vouchers to community members who willingly give up their assigned parking privileges, and they’re a great way to promote a healthier, more active community while reducing demand for limited parking.

Learn more about how ridesharing can help you manage university parking and traffic by downloading our free PDF resource guide for university administrators and transportation managers.