Where did you come from, How did you go?
By now you've probably surveyed UVM students (hopefully 20!) about their transportation choices. What have you found most interesting about their responses?
What do you think might be the biggest change to transportation in your lifetime?
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 2:02 PM
30 Comments:
So far most of the people I've surveyed use the CCTA buses more than the campus ones, but that's probably because my dorm is on central campus so most everything is within walking distance. Despite many students saying they use the city buses to get to downtown, I rarely see other students using them. I think many of them still like to drive downtown even though it costs them money.
For students that live farther away from school i.e. MA, RI, NH, there aren't many options for getting home other than taking a personal car. The bus system is pretty unreliable and as far as I know there aren't any trains. Some sort of comprehensive train system would definitely change the way people got to UVM from home.
Everyone is an avid user of the Redstone Express and any other bus that journeys to Redstone. Most people seem to either be driving or walking to off campus locations, rarely using the CCTA.
When it comes to commuting home for vacations, most out of state students live in the New England region and travel via cars, but many do participate in car pooling. Unfortunately, the public transportation options (Amtrak, Greyhound, etc.) have proven to be nothing but unreliable and expensive, making cars the only desired mode. Those students who require air travel to get home have decided to either stay in Burlington for the break or drive to a close destination with friends, saving them money.
In our lifetime, I think that the biggest change in transportation is among car types and ownership among young drivers. With advertising and the media always pushing luxury, style, and appearance, it seems that more young drivers are owning their own cars at younger ages, making it the norm to have your "own" car, reducing car pooling. Also, there is an increase in the amount of SUV's purchased and used by all ages, desired for their luxury and size.
I found it most interesting that most people who have cars on campus use it for things that they could use the CCTA buses for, but they have them on campus for getting to and from home, and therefore end up using them because they are here and easier than the buses. Although the buses are great and cheap, the timing does not always work and then people resort to other means of transportation. I think that if students had less of a need to have a car on campus for getting to and from their homes, they would be less likely to use them for driving around Burlington. Therefore, to solve this problem, other modes of transportation such as trains would be extremely helpful.
-Olivia McGee
Of those that I've surveyed most have said they use buses the most, compared to other ways like Ride Share. This is a positive thing though, to me, because the buses are going to be running no matter what, so it's good to hear that students take advantage of them. Also, many students say they walk, which is great too due to the fact they also get exercise while doing that. I think the biggest change to transportation during my lifetime is to continue going more environmentally friendly with it. Get more hybrids on the road, and get better (faster and more efficient) trains and buses for the mass amounts of people to use.
-Molly W.
So far in my survey results more people than expected do use the bus, both the campus wide UVM bus system and the CCTA system to go downtown and all around Burlington. I was surprised by how many people actually use the bus especially now since the new blirp it system has been installed. I think there needs to be more helpful incentives for catching the bus easily to increase usage even more.
-Livy Bulger
A lot of students use walking and/or biking as their primary mode of transportation, which I found really great and encouraging. They also were the ones who suggested that the buses have broader routes and later running times. I noticed that the students who do have cars on campus (mainly for getting home) never use public transportation, but they do walk a lot when not driving.
I am hopeful that, over the course of my lifetime, the train system in the United States will be improved to make commuting/traveling more like that in Europe. I think if trains were faster, nicer, and more direct they would be used much more and cars would be less "necessary." I know that the government (the dept. of interior I believe) is planning an overhaul of the train system, so I'm excited to see how that develops.
Sorry that last one by 'Rach' is Rachel Koh.
I thought it was interesting that the survey assumes that people know how to drive and have the option of doing so, when several people I interviewed don't know how to drive.
Aside from that, the answers were more or less what I expected. I have suspicion, though, that these answers would be different if we did the survey in the summer, so I encouraged people to answer taking into account all the seasons.
As far as comments, several people wish that there were later downtown buses, whether that means CCTA buses running later or off campus buses running during the week.
The thing I thought was most interesting about the responses I got to the survey was that most people would be willing to use public transportation and car services, but they are uninformed on how to go about it. Most people I talked to didn't know how carshare or the other services worked and how to get involved. People also found that the bus schedules were unclear or they did not know where to find them. These are all easily solvable problems, which is good in a way.
I think the biggest change in transportation in my lifetime is peoples' need for large cars. In my childhood everyone had small cars, or a minivan if they had a lot of kids. From what I remember, no one had huge SUV's or hummers etc. I think this trend is slowly ending, but there are still many people that still depend on cars like these for social status etc.
-Anna Speidel
One thing I found interesting about the responses I received were that many students who have cars use the on campus bus frequently but when they want or need to go downtown they drive. Being on Redstone campus, many of the people I interviewed really rely on the Redstone express and on campus bus, because walking to class simply takes longer. Many people I interviewed are from states pretty far away, like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island really depend on cars to get to and from school. If there were a better bus system or train system that went from Boston or New York to Burlington, many people would take that instead of trying to find rides/
I found it interesting that so few of the students I interviewed have a car on campus and that, at the same time, so few use the CCTA buses. I wonder if this means they are choosing to carpool, borrowing friends cars when in need, or choosing to walk/bike whenever possible. I was surprised by the number of students that use CATS buses on a very frequent, almost daily basis. I've often questioned the necessity of the on-campus buses, given that UVM's campus is a manageable size. They run very frequently, and I've noticed that there are cycles when they are very busy and cycles when the buses are hardly used at all. Perhaps the bus schedule could be adjusted to accomodate peak use hours and to run less frequently during slower periods of less frequent use.
I think that the biggest change to transportation in my lifetime could be the continued improvements made to the efficiency of public transportation. Much has been done to improve the quality of public transportation, and while much is left to be done, I think that something close to a public transportation revolution could take place in our lifetime.
- Madison
By now you've probably surveyed UVM students (hopefully 20!) about their transportation choices. What have you found most interesting about their responses?
What do you think might be the biggest change to transportation in your lifetime?
The survey results were very interesting because they show that most students know what transportation options are available on campus and either try to use them or don't have a great need to. It was great to inform people who didn't know about the options and to hear their feedback. The only observation that struck me as odd was that a lot of people haven't had luck with rideshare, and the only time I used it i found a reliable student to bring me home.
Segways and smart cars are the biggest change to transportation in my lifetime, in my opinion. I think that the increase in production of small compact modes of transportation shows that more people are aware of the need to minimize environmentally destructive behaviors such as the use of large cars. In addition I believe that the use of subways or trains would greatly benefit people that don't live in small cities like burlington.
By now you've probably surveyed UVM students (hopefully 20!) about their transportation choices. What have you found most interesting about their responses?
What do you think might be the biggest change to transportation in your lifetime?
The survey results were very interesting because they show that most students know what transportation options are available on campus and either try to use them or don't have a great need to. It was great to inform people who didn't know about the options and to hear their feedback. The only observation that struck me as odd was that a lot of people haven't had luck with rideshare, and the only time I used it i found a reliable student to bring me home.
Segways and smart cars are the biggest change to transportation in my lifetime, in my opinion. I think that the increase in production of small compact modes of transportation shows that more people are aware of the need to minimize environmentally destructive behaviors such as the use of large cars. In addition I believe that the use of subways or trains would greatly benefit people that don't live in small cities like burlington.
A lot of the students I have talked to use the campus buses more than the CCTA buses, but I don't know if that is because they don't go downtown/around and so don't need the buses.
Another thing of note is that more women than men had cars on campus. This could be because of demographic skew, though. I focused on Mercy for obvious reasons, and that has twice as many women as men.
Also, about three people said that they knew what Ride Share was, but then when I asked about Car Share, they became confused and didn't know there was a difference or which was which and so had me change their answers to that they didn't know.
Conducting surveys is fun :D
In my survey, I found that most people knew what the CCTA buses were and that they had used them somewhat frequently. What was surprising was that a lot of people replied that they used the campus shuttles a few times a week (I thought most people walked to class, at least I do). Also, a lot of people that did my survey knew what RideShare was and I did not (people also confused it with carshare, but everyone knew what carshare was). Also, since I surveryed most freshman they said that they weren't going to have a car because freshmen can't have cars but as I was talking to people it sounded like, for the most part, people were planning on bringing their cars sophomore year and it was mostly for skiing.
I found that most people knew about Carshare or Rideshare, but only a couple had actually used it. I think people are still unsure of what each exactly entails so they are apprehensive to use it. It seemed also that many people wanted more information about the bus schedule.
I hope that in my lifetime people will be more conscious about their modes of transportation. Everyone travels some place by some means every day and it can be easy to just get in your car an not think of your impact on the environment. I think a lot more people will be buying hybrid cars because it can be economical and environmentally friendly.
Natalie
The responses I got were responses i thought I would get. Most people have heard about the CCTA buses, carshare, campus busses, rideshare, etc.. but alot of them do no utilize any of these services. I live on trinity so walking downtown would actually be faster than walking over to MainStreet to catch the most commonly known Umall/Airport Route bus that takes you downtown. What people do not know about is there is a college street shuttle that stops by the hospital and the essex junction bus that goes from essex junction to downtown and stops places on pearl street relatively close to trinity campus.
Also living on trinity i found a lot of people take the campus busses to avoid walking across Colchester av to get to campus.
I think if this survey was given during summer late spring or early fall most people would have checked off the walk or bike more but it was kind of cold out still when it was given so more people tended to say they relied on other forms of transportation .
The majority of people I surveyed do not use the CATS or CCTA buses very often. Most people seem to walk or drive everywhere. No one used Rideshare or Carshare. Most people knew about Rideshare but didn't like to use it, while most people didn't know much about Carshare. Some people got Rideshare and Carshare confused because of the similar names.
I'm not sure what the biggest change to transportation has been in my lifetime. Bus systems are about the same as always, and driving habits seem about the same as always. Trains and planes are about the same: used for special occasions. Carshare would be a big change, but I haven't seen many people impacted by it yet. I don't personally know anyone who uses it, and most students I interviewed haven't heard of it. The same is true of electric and hybrid cars. They are an important change, but the majority haven't picked up on it yet. Besides which, so long as much of our electrical needs are fueled by coal and mountaintop removal, I don't see much difference between charging up your electric car with coal-based energy and filling your car with petrol.
I would like to see much more change in transportation in my lifetime. More use of trains/trolleys, carshare, biking, and clean energy for electric or hydrogen cars.
Emily Menzel
Most of the people I surveyed usually walked as their main form of transportation. On central campus, a lot of the students are first years, so they can't have cars on campus. Even so, most of the people I surveyed didn't use the campus buses or the CCTA buses very much either. No one had used carshare. Another part of living on central campus involves being so close to most of the classroom buildings that walking is the most reasonable way to get to and from class.
In my lifetime, I think that the biggest change to transportation is going to be fuel-related. Oil resources are not renewable and pressure from the consequences of climate change should push the world further towards a fuel dilemma. Perhaps public transportation will become more popular.
-Laura D.
The responses I got were what I expected. I surveyed people in the dorms so I didn't anticipate them saying they drove to class or anything wacky like that. Most said they walked everywhere they needed to go just because most places in Burlington are walking distance. No one said they plan on taking buses unless the weather is bad. If a bus happens to be right there many students said they hop on. City buses aren't used by most students because they say they aren't reliable and its easier/faster to just walk!
I hope that the biggest change in transportation in my lifetime is an increase in public transportation. It is desperately needed in many places, but still not possible in others so that might just be wishful thinking.
I found that people seem to be interested in using Ride Share but they are either nervous to do so or can't find rides to the places they want to go. Maybe if Ride Share had more publicity more students would post rides for things like going skiing or heading home. Lots of students seem to take advantage of the bus on campus at least a few times a week. I also found that not many students take the CCTA buses regularly, which I thought was interesting since they are a convenient way to run errands. Some people said the reason they didn't take the CCTA buses was because they tended to be late.
-Meghan Arpino
L/L residnets walk more than they use buses or cars mostly because the dorm is close to the central campus and most of the time students don't need to use the buses.
I found it interesting that most of hte people who know about UVM ride share also know about Car Share Vermont. And it seems that people who are more environmentally conscious tend to know both of them.
Many people mentioned that CATS bus is not very convenient because it does not come often, and don't know when it comes, etc.
I think we should tell people about the bus schedule check sytem via text message.(blurp something...)
-Kazuha
The majority of kids surveyed didn't use too too much public transportation. Being on athletic campus, students didn't really need the buses it seemed, though some said they took the UVM off-campus bus. There didn't seem to be much interest at all in the CCTA buses because students didn't know the schedule or were unfamiliar with them.
Some students had their own cars on campus, which were often used for skiing, but it seemed like they drove their cars for errands that they could've used a bus for, simply because they had their cars here.
-Jon C.
Throughout my surveying, I found that most people had heard of RideShare and CarShare, but had never used either of them. The reasons for this varied, but most people said they either had their own car or borrowed a friends' . A few said they could generally take the bus to get where they need to go, like home. Since I live on athletic, the overall consensus was that people use walking&/or biking for most of their transportation needs, and occasionally use the CCTA and campus buses on the weekends for going downtown and such. I think it's cool that even though there were definitely a number of people who owned cars and had them up at school, they primarily used them for trips to the grocery store or home occasionally. College students are pretty green in their transportation choices, not necessarily by their own choice, but because it is easy and what makes sense--particularly in Burlington, where there are so many things in such close proximity. What worries me is when we get out of college and join the masses of Americans driving their individual cars up to two hours a day to and from work. Thinking optimistically, I hope that in the future there will be more public transportation options in our country, and specifically in Vermont. These would include expanded routes for both buses and and trains and park-and-ride carpooling sites. But I can't help wondering if with reduced oil and car prices cars will appear on the roads in exponentially increasing numbers. Hopefully this will not be the case.
I found that the responses to the survey were relatively predictable. It seemed that the younger crowd (first year students) used cars less, because they aren't allowed to have cars until their second year. Also most people mentioned that if the buses were more reliable, and the schedules were more easy to access they would use them more.
I believe that one of the biggest changes to transportation in our lifetime is the invention of hybrids, smart cars, and electric vehicles. I definitely think that emphasis is being placed on environmentally friendlier cars. I feel that there is still a very long way to go when it comes to greening up cars, but I think we are headed in the right direction.
Alayna Howard
Something I found interesting about transportation survey was that most people were all for taking public transportation and using things like rideshare, but they just didn't how to go about it. It is pretty easy to find the CCTA bus schedule, but maybe it would be nice to have it posted around campus. As for rideshare, I think there needs to be more advertisement about how it actually works, because people see the signs, but then fail to follow up.
I think the biggest change in transportation in my lifetime is the movement towards carpooling, public transportation, and car sharing services. I live in a rural area so from what I can remember, everyone has always had at least 2 cars per family. Another change is the car size...since the 90's the availability and popularity of large cars has increased tremendously.
-Anna Speidel
I was pretty surprised by the transportation survey results. A lot more students walk to places than I thought. Most people just have a car here to drive home for the holidays. In my lifetime, I think that public transportation will be much more a factor in everyone’s modes of getting somewhere. Trains are becoming more efficient and people are just tired of paying the high gas prices.
-Cassie McGoldrick
I was pretty surprised by the transportation survey results. A lot more students walk to places than I thought. Most people just have a car here to drive home for the holidays. In my lifetime, I think that public transportation will be much more a factor in everyone’s modes of getting somewhere. Trains are becoming more efficient and people are just tired of paying the high gas prices.
-Cassie McGoldick
Upon completion of surveying twenty UVM students, I'm not surprised to see the common theme/request of a readily available UVM bus schedule. At the same time, I found most interesting how few students took advantage of the free service of the CCTA buses. I personally used both bus services obsessively during the winter months.
Perhaps the biggest change to transportation in my lifetime would be to see the increasing advancements in technology of using water or air as fuel for automobiles.
At the same time, the biggest transportation challenge among college students would be to convince them the unnecessary decision of having a car on campus if an individual has already adapted to the convenience of having one.
-anne chan.
When I did the transportation survey, I noticed that none of the people I spoke to had ever used UVM Ride Share or Car Share Vermont, although they had heard of these programs. This was because they either had a car on campus or found a different means of getting around. Also, people tended to use the Campus bus much more often than the City bus. Every single person walked everyday- I think that's required for getting around campus!
It's really hard to predict a change in transportation. Sometimes I get cynical, and believe that there won't be change for a very long time. So my HOPE is that people begin to value carpooling more, and the economy begins to shift towards cleaner fuels.
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