Pennsylvania State U University Park to Launch Bike Sharing Program
The university's Transportation Services and Zagster, Inc., have announced the launch of a new bike-share program that will open with 85 bikes across 17 stations for members to use for on-demand, local trips. The program will offers memberships for students, faculty and staff, and community members, as well as single-use rides for non-members.
Flinders U to Introduce Driverless Electric Bus
(Australia) The new autonomous, solar-powered bus will be used at the university's Tonsley campus. A 320,000 Australian dollar ($253,000) solar garage will be built, capable of recharging about six electric vehicles at once, including the new autonomous bus. The university won AU$1 million in state government funding to trial the autonomous bus technology, and will also use another AU$3 million from other investors to run the project over the next five years.
U Philippines Baguio Implements Carless Wednesdays
(Philippines) In an effort to reduce the university's carbon footprint, the university began Carless Wednesdays, prohibiting the campus community and visitors from parking cars on university property each Wednesday.
Bournemouth U Initiates Employee Sustainability Program
After a six-month pilot of a behavior change program reduced energy consumption by 14.6 percent across four departments, the university is expanding the program to all staff members. The initiative works by engaging employees on a range of themes through an online platform and app. Employees are rewarded with points for reducing their environmental footprint and improving their well-being through measures such as cycling, car-sharing or using re-usable cups and bottles.
U California San Diego Tests Vehicle-to-Grid Charging Platforms
A San Diego-based company will use the university to pilot its new vehicle-to-grid technology, which allows a parked electric vehicle to become part of the electric grid by enabling charging from and discharging to the grid. Drivers will be paid for energy discharged from their car while still being guaranteed the expected level of charge needed to operate the vehicle.
U Maryland to Complete 2 MW Photovoltaic Project
Three soon-to-be-completed solar canopies, totaling 2.17 megawatts, will help the campus exceed its on-campus renewable energy goal of generating 2.7 megawatts of solar power for university facilities by 2018. The solar canopies are a part of the President's Purchased Power Initiative, which aims to ensure 100 percent of purchased power comes from renewable sources by 2020.
American U Offsets Study Abroad Air Travel Emissions With International Project
The Paradigm Project, an endeavor that benefits communities in Africa by empowering women and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through reduced deforestation, is the university's new investment to reduce emissions from study abroad-related travel. The Office of Sustainability announced that this is the first project in what will be a portfolio of offset investments aligned with certain remaining sources of emissions that cannot be fully managed through efficiency and other mitigation strategies.
Indiana U Adds Electric Vehicles to Fleet
The first all-electric cars were recently added to university fleet operations. Four 2017 Nissan Leafs will be used in various campus operations, including one that employees can rent for university business.
Cornell U Announces Bike-Share Program
Partnering with Zagster to launch an updated and expanded bike-share program, Big Red Bikes Bike Share, the new program features 32 cruiser bikes available at five locations around campus for riders to check out for on-demand, local trips.
U Kentucky Program Pays Employees to Use Transportation Alternatives
The university's Transportation Services has launched a pilot program to give $200 each to up to 200 qualified employees who agree to forgo bringing a motor vehicle to campus for one year. The goal of the program is to reduce the number of motor vehicles on campus and create a more pedestrian friendly community.
U Idaho Begins Fueling Trucks With Biodiesel
The university's Steam Plant has begun reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their operation by fueling their semi-truck and front-end loaders with a 20-percent blend of biodiesel made on campus from used cooking oil from Dining Services.
U Maryland Student Launches Ride-Sharing App
A sophomore accounting major launched CarPo on March 1 after almost a year and a half of planning and developing the app. Through the app, students looking for rides to and from their hometowns and colleges are able to see registered students with cars who are already driving to the same place.
Ball State U Releases Bicycle Plan
In an effort to reduce the negative impacts from automobile trips and parking, including impervious surfaces, emissions, and the heat island effect, the new plan encourages cycling on campus by proposing dedicated bicycle paths, shared multi-use paths, and establishing bike lanes on existing streets.
Texas A&M U Begins Bike-Share Program
In order to provide an alternative mode of transportation on campus, A&M Transportation Services contracted with Zagster to implement a bike-share program, a 24-hour service intended to help the campus community get around quickly, efficiently and inexpensively on the 5,200-acre campus. The bikes are checked out for a small fee using smartphone technology or text messages with regular cell phones, and are equipped with safety lights, internal gears, a lock attached to the bike, front basket and bell. There are 75 bikes on campus and 10 racks.
U California Irvine Converts Bus Fleet to All Electric
The student-funded and -operated Anteater Express shuttle service is acquiring 20 all-electric buses to the tune of $15 million. The buses will roll onto campus for the 2017-18 academic year, joining a hydrogen electric bus, to provide more than 2 million pollution-free rides annually. Undergraduates voted to pay up to $40 per quarter to the Associated Students of UCI to cover the bus purchase.
Princeton U Art Museum Purchases Solar Powered Vehicles
The art museum recently purchased solar panels to power two low speed vehicles for staff use. Inspired by the upcoming 2018 exhibition, Nature's Nation: American Art and Environment, the project was funded out of a university sustainability fund, High Meadows Foundation Sustainability Fund, a mechanism that provides money for campus sustainability projects, with an emphasis on measurable outcomes and culture change.
U California Riverside Launches Bike-Share Program
The bike-share program, hosted by Zagster, allows university community members to access its bikes through the download of its mobile application. Rental of a bike is free for the first two hours, with the remainder of rental time costing $1 per hour, with a $6 per day maximum.
U North Carolina Wilmington Begins Bike Sharing Program
As of November 2016, there are 25 bicycles at five racks across campus, and in early January that will grow to 70 bikes at seven locations. Students, faculty and staff can receive one free hour of bike time per day, or can pay an annual $25 fee for four hours of daily use.
League of American Bicyclists Announces 2016 Campus Designations
Bicycle Friendly University award designations grew this year with 37 campuses obtaining a designation for the first time. Eleven campuses moved up from one designation to another, with a total of 51 campuses now having the Bicycle Friendly Designation, a program of The League of American Bicyclists.
U Maryland Students Say 'No' to New Parking Lot
Students struck down a resolution supporting the construction of a 1,000 space, permeable-pavement parking lot on what is currently a wooded area on campus. Members of the student Residence Hall Association expressed concerns that the new lot would jeopardize the environment and weren't in line with the university's sustainability goals. One student was quoted as saying, "Green spaces are increasingly rare and increasingly more beneficial to mental health."
Brandeis U Commences New Carpool Program
Commute Green, the university's new carpool service, enables community members to share rides, find ways to campus via multiple routes like biking, walking and busing, and see on an interactive map the locations of bike racks, bike pumps and bike repair stations.
Oregon State U-Cascades Offers Car Sharing
A new partnership with Zipcar now allows campus and surrounding community members to check out one of two vehicles on a daily or hourly basis. This additional transportation option for students and employees is an alternative to bringing a car to campus.
Texas A&M U Completes Glowing-Paint Bike Lane
Initiated by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Texas A&M Transportation Services after conducting a campus bike study that concluded in 2015, one of the campus' busiest intersections now has photo-luminescent paint to illuminate the bicycle lane to ensure safety amongst cyclists, motorists, vehicles and pedestrians as well as amplify protection and mobility. The solar-powered paint will store energy during the daytime and emit the light at night.
Union College Installs EV Charging Stations
Two electric vehicle charging stations are now available to students, faculty and staff for use in four-hour blocks. A Planning and Priorities grant, awarded each year for projects that support the college’s strategic plan, will pay for the stations and will cover electricity use during the first year.
Pennsylvania State U Contracts with Ride Sharing Service
A service of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Zimride is now being offered to the campus community. Zimride, an online ride matching service that connects drivers and passengers heading to the same area, helps reduce vehicle emissions, traffic congestion and fuel consumption while splitting transportation costs.
Suffolk CC Joins Community Car-Free Day
The community college and Suffolk County jointly hosted a Car Free Day Long Island Summit. The event, which SCCC President Shaun McKay kicked off, included discussion about sustainable transportation options available to the community in an effort to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions, which is 30 percent according to a regional sustainability plan.
Salisbury U Begins New Bike Sharing Service
The new alternative transportation service has been launched with a fleet of 100 bicycles, each individually named after a musician or band, such as Katy Perry or Grateful Dead. The program charges $1 per hour with no distance restrictions. However, when bicycles are returned to the university campus, they must be locked to a sanctioned bike rack.
Three Universities Win National Transportation Award
The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) announced Texas A&M University and University of California Los Angeles as the finalists in the Marketing & Outreach Awards; and University of California Irvine won the Commuting Options Awards for biking. The awards provide the opportunity to acknowledge the work of leading organizations and individuals in the transportation demand management industry.
U New Mexico Hosts Electric Vehicle Outreach Event
After electric vehicle (EV) charging stations were installed on campus, the university hosted a Ride and Drive event, an electric and hybrid car show consisting of car manufacturers BMW, Ford, Nissan and Chevrolet. The goal of the event was to promote alternative transportation and raise awareness of the EV charging stations on campus.
Michigan State U Joins 'Workplace Charging Challenge'
In an effort to help reduce petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions while also providing a valuable benefit to students, employees and visitors, the university recently joined the national partnership program, Workplace Charging Challenge through the U.S. Department of Energy, that aims to increase the number of employers offering workplace vehicle charging to 500 by 2018.
U California Davis Accommodates 20K Bicycles
A newly released video showcases the university's efforts to maintain a Platinum level Bicycle-Friendly designation from the League of American Bicyclists, given that on any given weekday in the spring or fall semester, the campus may have 20,000 bikes on it, says David Takemoto-Weerts, university bicycle program coordinator.
Massachusetts Institute of Tech Rolls Out Free Transit
Between now and September, MIT will roll out the Access MIT pass, one of several new commuter benefits for Cambridge campus faculty and staff. The new benefits include free, unlimited subway and local bus usage, and increased subsidies for parking at MBTA stations and commuter rail tickets. The Access MIT program is an initiative to create a variety of affordable, low-carbon transportation options and change the way the MIT community thinks about commuting. Photo credit: Lilyana Vynogradova / Shutterstock.com
Stanford U Students to Receive Free Bike Helmets
In an effort to increase safe bicycling practices among Stanford students, the university will distribute free helmets to nearly 1,800 freshmen in the fall of 2016, thanks to a donation from two Stanford parents.
Colorado State U Offers Bike Training to Older Staff
Faculty and staff 50 years old and older can get personalized training through university’s Parking and Transportation Services, thanks to a Kaiser Permanente grant. The Back on the Bike program is designed to get more people in active transportation and physical activity by offering bike tune-ups, safety gear and tricks to travel in traffic and overcome other safety or comfort obstacles through personalized travel training.
U Maryland & City Launch Bike-Share Program
The university and City of College Park, in partnership with Zagster, Inc., launched mBike, a bike sharing program for students, faculty, staff, visitors and community members that includes 120 bikes at 14 stations throughout campus and the city.
Five Universities Place in Shell Eco-Marathon Americas
This year's Shell Eco-Marathon Americas, a global program that challenges high school and college student teams to design, build and test the most energy-efficient vehicles, concluded with the following winners: Queens University (Canada), University of Alberta (Canada), University of Colorado at Boulder, Laval University (Canada), and Université de Sherbrooke (Canada). The win qualifies the teams to compete at the Shell Ecomarathon Europe and the Drivers World Championship in London this summer.
Stanford U Students Reduce Team Travel Emissions
The university recently announced that all of last year's (2015) varsity team air travel emissions were offset through Stanford Carbon Offsets to Reduce Emissions (SCORE), a collaborative effort to reduce Stanford Athletics’ carbon footprint from air travel by purchasing carbon offsets.
Princeton U Expands Bike-Share Program
Building on its commitment of providing sustainable and convenient transportation options for faculty, staff, students and the community, the university has expanded its bike-share program by 60 bicycles that can be borrowed at various points around campus. The new bikes augment a successful bike-rental pilot program the university launched in November 2014 with 10 bikes available at Princeton Station.
Colorado State U Introduces Four Electric Vehicles to Fleet
Two Nissan LEAFs were purchased by Housing & Dining Services to be used as check-out vehicles for staff who need a vehicle during the day to attend meetings, run university errands or coordinate deliveries. The other two vehicles will be utilized by Facilities Management staff to travel between the three campuses, run university errands and attend meetings and conferences along the Front Range.
Northern Arizona U Raises Nearly $7K for Bike Safety
The university's first crowdfunding effort, Lights for Yellow Bikes, raised $6,704 for lights to be installed on bikes in its free bike program. Citing inclement weather and night riding, installing yellow lights on the bikes aims to help protect riders from harm.
Dalhousie U Releases Bike Safety Video
The university recently debuted a comedic bike safety video with 12 tips for safe cycling. Students and alumni appear in the film, which was co-funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
Glasgow Caledonian U Receives Cycling Award
(U.K.): Students and staff welcomed the Cycle Friendly Campus Award from Cycling Scotland, which recognized the university's efforts to promote cycling to, from and around campus. The university has implemented a range of measures including bicycle parking, cycle training and providing personal travel planning. Since 2014, the university has documented a 20 percent increase in the number of students, staff and visitors that choose cycling as a travel choice.
Utah State U Receives $29K for Clean Fuel Transportation
In an effort to improve air quality on campus, the university’s Center for Civic Engagement and Service-Learning was awarded $12,000 to buy an electric vehicle to deliver waste to the campus' organic farm and the industrial composter and to transport food waste recovered for the student food pantry through the Food Recovery Network. An additional $17,000 will provide partial funding to purchase a Chevy Volt for the Utah Conservation Corps and retire an outdated truck from its vehicle fleet. USU is providing matching funds to install solar panels on a facility to store that vehicle.
Associated Students U Montana Order Electric Buses
In alignment with the school's commitment to reduce carbon emissions, the Associated Students of the University of Montana recently ordered two 40-foot electric buses. The purchase will be creatively funded via the state's INTERCAP program and the U.S. EPA's Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant.
Oregon State U Wins Local Transportation Challenge
Top honors in the inaugural Employment Transportation Coordinator challenge, a joint project of the city and local Council of Governments, went to the university on behalf of alternative transportation efforts that include improvement at forming carpool and vanpool groups, increasing the amount of bicycle parking, creating a zonal parking system for the campus. The university will be working with local bike shops to offer repair training and reboot its bike loan program.
