Transportation Education
What are a couple key points regarding alternative transportation at UVM that you think should be part of educating your peers? How might you highlight environmentally friendly options for getting around Burlington, or for getting to and from Burlington?
For example, you might consider how to frame messages about the environmental impacts of different modes of transportation, or the financial costs of operating and maintaining a personal vehicle. Include a little research in your response, and of course cite any sources of information.
posted by UVM Eco-Reps Program Coordinator @ 2:34 PM
17 Comments:
Here on campus, there are multiple forms of alternative transportation that one may participate in. The most well-known one are the Cat Busses that run both on and off campus at regular times throughout the week.
The newest form of transportation to hit UVM is the Campus Coordinator shuttle busses which leave from campus to major cities in the northeast area, such as Boston, New York, and D.C. This is a inexpensive, sufficient way of making your trek home easier and softer on the environment.
The idea of creating a BikeShare program just like the city of Burlington has CarShare has been buzzing around UVM campus for the past year, but we are actually just a few days from the actual launching of this new and exciting program. BikeShare will give students the opportunity to "share'' a bike around and outside of campus during the times they have needed a bike in the past.
I think that it is important for people to know about the types of alternative transportation available at UVM so that we can work towards improvement as well as have an appreciation for the green alternatives already in place. I think the most important aspect to highlight would be the CCTA buses that are free to students. This is great because they go off campus, reaching most of the desired distances that students would be traveling.
Especially since the weather is getting nicer, I think it is important to give the reminder that walking/biking places makes you feel good! It is good exercise, can be good thinking time, or even good talking time with friends (who you are walking with, or catching up with a friend from home!). It’s a good way to slow down the go-go-go lifestyle that college often promotes, and take the time to enjoy the spring blossoming! A good way to frame this message about throwing on the shoes and being your own source of transportation would be to highlight the health aspects of doing so. Not only is it healthy for the environment, but it is good for you! Knowing about the pollutants we are putting in our environment and their harmful effects can encourage people to do their part in reducing their impact. The Eco reading had a nice brief description of just some of the pollutants caused from transportation vehicles. Even though the information was brief, it was very powerful- as it gave a brief description of why the pollutant is harmful to us- giving us reason to want to reduce it in our environment!
http://www.naturalnews.com/022953_car_health_driving.html This article is a good example of how walking is good for the self and for the environment. The article also talks about the importance of combining trips when going distances. This along with carpooling is an important message to remind people about- if you do need to use transportation be mindful about it!
Lastly I think that it is important that we spread the idea about the new bikeshare! This is awesome that such a program is developing on our campus- with the weather getting nice, going for a bike ride to the lake front could be a great way to reduce some stress with finals coming up!
One big message that I think would really resonate with UVM students is the physical exercise that comes along with walking and biking to and from class or downtown. A lot of times it's hard to find the time or motivation to exercise, so this is an easy way for busy college kids to get their fitness on a little bit every day. Not only is this good for your body and the environment, it's also proven to help your mental health. I think walking to and from class is generally underrated. It's a great way to start your day off in the right way and to get yourself going.
-Nancy Jones
I think one key part of educating UVM students about alternative modes of transportation would be to highlight how easy it is to get around Burlington without a car. To this end, providing bus schedules and maps of the area would be helpful.
For example, if students knew which bus routes will take them where in Burlington and with what frequency, it would make using them more convenient. A lot of students don't realize that buses actually go down Pine Street, out to the North End, over to Winooski and Essex Junction, and up and down College Street. Bus schedules for all the CCTA routes are easily available at http://www.cctaride.org/bus-information/routes-schedules.html.
As for walking, if students knew the layout of the area, it would be easier to walk or bike places. This could be helped by providing a detailed map of Burlington to all incoming freshman, instead of a map that only shows how to get to certain businesses or attractions.
All buses are free with a student ID, so stressing the financial benefit of not paying for gas and a parking permit could be a good way to make taking the bus, walking, and biking more appealing.
Students should learn not to be afraid of carpooling. There are great programs and services available to students such as the RideShare forum on UVM's website as well as the UVMSSC busses that run to the popular student skiing destinations in VT. An updated list of carseat-sharing commuters is announced on a regular basis on 90.1 WRUV, the student radio station.
One of the big boundaries that carpooling faces is the uncomfortable prospect of being in a stranger's car. Many students would rather take the independent route of traveling alone. But it can be easier, cheaper and more 'green' to travel with a new friend or two. This we must convince them of.
For months I have heard my peers say how they've either already brought, or will be bringing their car on campus this upcoming semester because they need to be able to navigate around the Burlington area more freely. I often counter with "Do you ever take the bus?" and they quickly reply with a horror story of their first-and-only time taking the CCTA bus. This, to me, could not be more wrong! Although I am a Burlington resident and have a little more experience with the CCTA buses (started really riding just at the beginning of last year, though), the system is so easy to learn! I think that if people were given more access to CCTA bus information the percentage of UVM students who take CCTA buses would grow profoundly.
I think that this simple advertisement and educational plan would reduce MUCH of UVM's carbon footprint (by way of fewer cars on campus) and it wouldn't even need implementing NEW infrastructure.
http://www.cctaride.org/bus-information/routes-schedules.html
Learn more at the link above!!
I think it is important for UVM students to understand that the office of transportation is working for them. Students have more than just a say in UVM transportation, otherwise the bus system would not exist and the office of transportation would not provide free public bus access for Chittenden County. If students have a need they would like to see fulfilled to make their trek around campus easy without single occupancy vehicles, SPEAK UP!
In addition, I think it is important for students to realize that we are very lucky to be on a campus located in such a pedestrian/bike/public bus accessible community. I am from a suburban town and you legitimately cannot get anywhere besides your neighbors house without driving a car. Here you have the ability to explore the city and other places in the county with public transportation and/or SAFE pedestrian and bike ways. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT WHILE YOU ARE HERE! :)
When I made my bulletin board, I wanted to focus on points that would actually resonate with my peers and show them the rational substitutes to a single person driving to do something as simple as pick up milk. I used statistics like the equivalent mileage of different types of transportation methods. The coolest thing that happened since I put up the board is people in my building being dumbfounded by the efficiency of biking and coach buses over passenger cars.
I also made a point to mention the availability of free transit methods in Burlington, most of which started as an attempt to reduce congestion! UVM students get free use of several transit companies by simply being a student - something many people don't realize.
I think the most important aspect of educating my peers about alternative transportation approaches is showing off the positive effects of their alternate choices rather then the negative effects of not changing their actions. Biking is a great way to get in shape, it makes you look so fly, and can also function as a great bonding activity (perhaps a date???!?). And now that we have the bike share on campus it’s so easy. C’mon, who doesn’t love a nice pair of calves? Another great healthy alternative is WALKING. You don’t have to worry about parking anything but yourself in the place of your choice. Walking can provide some lovely thinking time, as well as giving some more out door time. I personally love to walk. The shuttle service and Burlington bus services are also a great perk of being a student at UVM. It is virtually unnecessary to bring your own vehicle up here. In a lot of cases it can actually be more inconvenient.
a lot of UVM students bring up a car for the sole purpose of going skiing on the weekends. many students seem to be under the impression that if they don't have a car, or if they don't know anyone with a car, then there is no way they can possibly get out of the burlington area. however this is untrue! first of all, UVM ski and snowboard club (UVMSSC) runs busses to 3 or 4 different mountains every weekend. more information can be found at http://www.uvmssc.com/
furthermore, another underdeveloped program is burlington CarShare, which i think is not very well known among students. i remember CarShare advertising about their program during orientation, but I hardly ever see CarShare materials around campus. I think it would effective is CarShare did more advertising in the student dorms, with slogans such as "Trying to go skiing this weekend? Try out CarShare!" etc. It's such an accessible and effective program that it's really a shame that people don't know more about it. If even a small percentage of students decided to sign up for CarShare rather than bring a car up just for a single purpose (or many purposes, for that matter), the student body collectively could reduce our impact on the environment significantly.
I think a very large problem with alternative transportation is that the real costs of car ownership are not fully exposed. People don't realize all the "hidden" costs- such as insurance, depreciation, parking, tickets, repairs, etc. Who considers that a huge chunk of the money they spend on a car goes down the drain when they try to sell it? Or that a speeding ticket is part of the cost of driving? All they think about usually is what goes into the gas tank, and perhaps their monthly payments. Edmunds.com has a great calculator that reveals the True to Cost to Own (TCO) for any vehicle. It shows for example, that a Hummer, listed a $30,000 would actually cost over $50,000 over five years. This is one approach to showing people the truth. I think revealing how expensive cars are is essential to moving away from them. Once people realize that they can't afford to drive, they will start to consider other options. Obviously, making alt transportation available, convenient, and safe is also important, in fact, essential, to allowing people to feel like they do have real, cheaper, and less environmentally damaging options for transportation. I think a framing and educational approach around the costs of driving, while highlighting the plausibility of switching to other options, would be a great way to promote alt transportation.
As others have mentioned, I think it is important to emphasis the energy and money that UVM spends on developing a bus system that hopes to be efficient and reliable. In relation to this, it is helpful to say statements like, "it is best to walk and bike but taking a bus is the 2nd best option!" This helps students know the order to "best" practice. However, it might be important to give the students a basis of understanding in relation to the energy transition that is not only occurring at UVM, but also nationally. I think it is very important for students to know about issues behind current modes of transportation (such as hydrolic fracking, etc) UVM has ~5 busses running on CNG and ~5 on biofuels. It is important for our student body to be aware of the issues behind these forms of energy and what our campuses footprint really looks like.
Like Ali said, I think one definite major usage of cars at UVM is for skiing/snowboarding. Most of my friends do carpool to the mountains, which is a plus, but a greener option would be taking the bus. I think a lot of students don't want to pay the $20 to belong to the ski and snowboard club, but I'm sure drivers spend more money on gas than they would for membership. Perhaps if there was some sort of calculation created for the average amount of money someone would spend on gas person season, we could publicize that and students looking to save money might be more inclined to take the bus.
I think the B.U.G. bikeshare program is awesome, and we should try to publicize that as much as possible. Biking is already seen as cool around UVM, but we need to make walking/biking/taking the bus seen as the only way to get downtown. One issue people have mentioned as a reason to drive downtown is grocery shopping. Maybe along with bike rentals there could be some sort of pannier rental system so that people could more readily transport groceries back to campus via a bike.
I think the new bike share program through BUG is something that has a lot of potential to have a huge impact on how UVM students get around. Even though I, along with many other students, already have a bike, the bike share program is great for when you're on the fly. On a whim as you walk by the Davis Center, you can simply walk in, get a key, and be on your way — you have 2 hours to return your bike and that is plenty of time to go downtown, down to the other downtown, your friend's house, or back to your place to have a quick nap before your next class. I feel like the BUG program is the next Eco-Ware-type project that will sweep through UVM. Just before Spring break, the Eco-Reps and other Eco-Ware promoters tried so hard to get the required 200 people signed up for the Eco-Ware program; I don't think we got it then but we somehow got the deadline extended and after we got back, there was a huge rush to get Eco-Ware because of the pre-Spring Break advertising. If we can get the word out there about the benefits of the BUG program over your own car or even the CATS and CCTA bus systems, I think it could have great potential to change the transportation system at UVM.
I am relatively shocked at how many students bring their cars on campus during their sophomore year (when they are allowed to), suffering the hefty fees in order to get a permit to park on campus.
After all, the stress of finding a spot must be enough of a hassle, but Vermont makes it more challenging with its infamous winters that bring cold weather, lots of snow shoveling, and parking bans.
Why not use the more environmentally-friendly options such as the CCTA bus services that are free to UVM affiliates or Carshare Vermont, which is perfect for the times when a car is really needed for just that day, weekend, or even hour!
Especially with Spring finally arriving in Vermont - there really shouldn't be any reason for students to use vehicles.
There are several wonderful alternative forms of transportation here in Burlington, as well as for leaving Burlington. Most well-known are the buses that run day and evenings, as well as on weekends, shuttling students to their classes as well as downtown, which can be really helpful. One can also take advantage of the CCTA buses that students can use to ride for free. These buses go everywhere in the county, and I mean everywhere.
There is also the car share program on campus, where a person can use a car when they need it and then pass it off to the next person when they're done. In this way, a person can have limited access to a car which prevents the privilege of having one from being abused.
car share- http://www.carsharevt.org/campus-car-sharing
There is also the ride board which many people use. This is a system in which people can post on it and say "Looking for someone who needs to go to Boston on December 15th, I have one spot in my car." This way, students can share the cost of gas while also getting more than one person into a car. This also saves fuel cost because only one car is used, instead of two.
Finally, there is the new bike share program on campus, which I am super excited about! This allows students who do not have a bike at school (or with them at the time) to take out a bike from one of the hubs and use it to get to class or go downtown. This an awesome idea and has worked really well on other campuses.
One of the great things about UVM campus, and Burlington, is the various means of transportation that are available. Students can use the city CCTA buses for free as well as the CATS on campus bus. These buses are dependable as they run on a schedule and have well-placed stops. Other than that it is super easy for students to travel throughout campus on-foot. In comparison to some major universities, the UVM campus is rather small and easily walkable. We are also an incredibly bike friendly campus and city. There are bike racks and paths everywhere. Most dorms also have locations for students to store their bikes indoors when the weather is unfavorable. For those who do not own a bike, Bike Users Group has created an awesome system which allows students to rent bikes for free for a two hour period.
In order to educate students about these alternative transportation options, I think there should be advertising throughout campus. A great spot to do this would be on the CATS bus. Posters could advertise the accessibility of bikes on campus. I would say that, for the most part, students would rather be outdoors than on a crowded bus when the weather is just right. However, many students use the bus because it is faster than walking. If more bus riders were educated about the BUG program, they would probably take advantage of this great option.
Post a Comment
<< Home