Results and Findings

Five separate groups were surveyed within this study. They included students representing North Dakota State University (NDSU), Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM), and Concordia College along with faculty and staff from NDSU and MSUM respectively. Findings among the student groups as well as the faculty and staff groups were very uniform. This was a hypothesized finding at the outset of the study as demographically, all three higher learning institutions are statistically consistent.

Student respondents gave very useful information about themselves, including demographics regarding the student body, an idea of current student movement around campus, the value of the current MAT services, their perceptions of the parking situation on campus, and opinions about the current accommodations for transit on campus. NDSU student respondents also provided useful insight regarding its campus circulator.

The next step is for the campuses to respond to the viewpoints of the student body. Responding in a positive manner will encourage growth in transit use, while no response or a negative response will stifle growth of transit on each respective campus. Increasing the convenience of transit services on all campuses will lead to the most substantial increase in student ridership. The convenience of public transit will never rival that of the personal automobile, but by increasing the frequency of service along designated routes, students will have more options when considering their travel to and from campus as well as their travel within the entire metro area. Greater marketing efforts on the part of MAT will aid in improving ridership as well.

This study found that faculty and staff are very reliant upon their personal automobiles. However, there does appear to be openness to public transportation, but the more efficient routes need to serve the residential areas of both the NDSU and MSUM employees and provide more direct service to campus in an attempt to reduce travel time. Further, it appears there is a need for better marketing of the bus schedules and service to campus faculty and staff. For example, more than 60 percent of MSUM faculty and staff were unfamiliar with the service that MAT provides. Making public transit convenient and easy to use can address both campuses' mobility growing pains. Convenience and ease of use are aspects of MAT service that must also be addressed to increase the utilization of public transportation on the MSUM and NDSU campuses and throughout the entire Fargo-Moorhead area.

References

1. Miller, James H., Transportation on College and University Campuses: A Synthesis of Transit Practice, TCRP Synthesis 39, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 2001, Available [Online] http://gulliver.trb.org/publications/tcrp/tsyn39.pdf

2. Bourne, R. T., and Schauer, P., "Case Study in Land Use and Parking Regulations in Support of Campus Transit Services Development of CY-RIDE in Ames, Iowa," Transportation Research Record 1266, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C. (1990)

3. Brown, J., Hess, D., and Shoup, D., "Unlimited Access," Presented at the Transportation and University Communities Conference sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association, Gainesville, Florida. (April 2000).

4. Cornell University, "Commuting Solutions: Summary of Transportation Demand Management Program," Cornell University Office of Transportation Services, Ithaca, New York, (undated).

5. Graves, Tabitha, "Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Programs: Profiles of Selected Universities," University of Wisconsin-Madison, [Online], Available: http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/campusecology/cerp/tdm/tdm.htm (December, 1993)

7. Meyer, James, and Beimborn, E. A., "Usage, Impacts, and Benefits of Innovative Transit Pass Program," Transportation Research Record 1618, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.(1998)

8. Meyer, James and Beimborn, Edward, "Evaluation of an Innovative Transit Pass Program: the UPASS," A Report to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, [Online], Available: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CUTS/upassum.htm ,(March 1996)

9. Miller, J. H., Campus Transportation System Inventory, Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center, The Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, University Park, Pennsylvania (January 1992)

10. Milwaukee County Transit System, "UPASS Program," [Online], Available: http//www.ridemcts.com/u-pass/

11. Moriarty, J. A., Patton, R., and Volk, W., "The I System: A Campus and Community Bus System for the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana," Transportation Research Record 1297, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.(1991)

12. Poinsatte, F, and Toor, W., Finding a New Way: Campus Transportation for the Twenty-First Century, University of Colorado Environmental Center, Boulder, Colorado (1999)

13. Slack, C., "University, Referendum Spur Transit Growth," Busline (March/April 2000) pp. 18-30, 68.

14. "Students Turn Out to Vote for U-Pass," UICNEWS, University of Illinois-Chicago, [Online], Available: http://www.uic.edu/depts/paff/uicnews/uic_archives/Archive/2000/20000927123007.html September 27, 2000.

15. University of Minnesota, "U-Pass Information," [Online], Available: http://buspass.umn.edu/upass.html

16. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, "Segregated Fees - Fall 2000," [Online], Available: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/DES/Schedule/Fall/feeinfo.html#segregated

17. U-Pass Annual Report: September 1998 - September 1999, University of Washington, On-line version, http://www.washington.edu/upass/report99/

18. Williams, M. E., and Petrait, K. L., "U-PASS: A Model Transportation Management Program That Works," Transportation Research Record 1404, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1993, pp. 73-81.

19. "United States University Transportation System Links," American Public Transit Association [Online], Available: http://www.apta.com/links/univtrans.cfm

20. "United States Local and State Transit Links," American Public Transit Association [Online], Available: http://www.apta.com/links/state_local/

Endnotes

1 Numbers acquired from Mr. James Silvernagel, Pagecenter Specialist with Information Technology and Mr. Richard Jacobson, NDSU IT Security Officer, respectively.

2 Numbers acquired from Mr. James Silvernagel, Pagecenter Specialist with Information Technology and Mr. Richard Jacobson, NDSU IT Security Officer, respectively.

3 Dr. James Miller. Transportation on College and University Campuses: A Synthesis of Transit Practice. TCRP Synthesis 39, Transportation Research Board - National Research Council. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 2001.