Sustainable Transportation and
Grounds in UIC
Report prepared by
Transportation and Grounds Subcommittee
Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Sustainable Transportation and
Grounds in UIC
Report prepared by
Transportation and Grounds Subcommittee
Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
April 2009
Committee Chair: Piyushimita Thakuriah
Subcommittee Members:
Pablo Acevedo
Karin Allen
Sayaka Araki
Joseph Dijohn
Darlene Ebel
Daniel Fredman
Cynthia Klein-Banai
Danielle Inendino
Kevin Monahan
Wanda Perry
Beth Sholtis
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Executive Summary
The Transportation and Grounds Subcommittee, as part of the Chancellor’s Committee
on Sustainability and Energy, undertook the task of reviewing transportation and
landscape and grounds practices on campus in terms of sustainability, efficiency and
best practices. Following the recommendations of the Chancellor’s Task Force on
Campus Sustainability and driven by UIC’s pledges to the American College and
University Presidents Climate Commitment, and the Illinois Sustainable University
Compact, the subcommittee identified issues, opportunities and concerns regarding
transportation and landscape and grounds keeping on campus. The subcommittee’s
comprehensive study has resulted in a set of short and long term recommendations to
improve sustainability and achieve the goal of climate neutrality adopted by UIC.
The policy statement and vision developed for this report dovetail with the UIC Master
Plan Vision Statement and the strategies outlined in the UIC Climate Action Plan. The
standards and reports which guided the subcommittee’s deliberation and analysis
included university sustainability commitments, the Sustainability Tracking, Rating &
Assessment Standards (STARS), Transportation Demand Management strategies and
policies, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) standards and Urban Forestry
and Arboriculture practices. These standards define current best practices and shape
the pragmatic and wide-ranging collection of techniques and procedures recommended
for UIC, maximizing the university’s advantageous location and access to services and
programs.
The objectives of the analysis undertaken as a part of this report are twofold; first, to
understand travel and transportation use patterns by UIC students, staff and faculty and
to identify areas where travel alternatives may exist; and second, to examine where
opportunities may exist to incorporate sustainable grounds practices. The findings
reported are based on analysis of existing data as well as a primary data collection:
Sources of Data
Analysis undertaken by the Urban Transportation Center:
Analysis of the UTC’s Spatial Decision Support System, a market analysis of faculty and
staff potential use of alternative modes of transportation.
Survey of UIC U-PASS users to understand student travel behavior and incentives and
programs that can be developed to encourage more transit usage by students.
Information provided by UIC Facilities Management. Data on parking, vehicles and other
amenities were provided.
UIC Campus Commuter Survey, conducted by the Office of Sustainability looks at
primary modes of transportation used to commute to UIC.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Summary of Findings
Assets and Services
UIC has a total of 41 parking lots with 11,944 parking spaces in the East and
West campuses combined.
UIC offers a variety of transportation services, including Intercampus shuttle
buses, the Red Car/Off-Hour Paratransit Service, a Chauffeur service is also
available and commuter buses which operate between the campus and major
commuter train stations.
The campus is strategically located with several city bus routes and train services
that operate through the heart of campus.
Campus fleet vehicles include those used for Campus Auto Rental Service, the
campus police and vehicles used for on-site operations and maintenance.
Currently, the institution’s motorized fleet emits 0.2 carbon dioxide equivalent
(CO2 e) per passenger mile traveled.
UIC draws hundreds of thousands of business and academic visitors, special
events attendees and patients annually, to various facilities across campus.
Demand Patterns
Overall, less than 25% of UIC faculty, students and staff who responded to the
UIC Office of Sustainability Commuter Survey, reported that they drive the entire
commute to campus. The remainder of the campus community uses multiple
modes to travel an average of 15 miles each way per trip.
Close to 38 percent of faculty and staff reside in zip codes where the transit
availability is generally excellent to good. Close to 40 percent reside in areas
within the six counties that have excellent pedestrian amenities; another 25
percent or so reside in areas with “Good” values of pedestrian accessibility.
Employees residing in such areas, who are currently solo drivers to campus, may
be considered for incentives, information and marketing to occasionally use
transit to campus.
Mode use has changed since 2001 due to the availability of the U-PASS and
transit benefit. This has impacted intercampus shuttle ridership, decreasing
usage by over 50%.
Overall, there are enough “spatially clustered’ groups of faculty and staff to whom
transit is not available. Employees in these spatially clustered groups may be
better served with express buses, vanpools, carpools and other high occupancy
modes.
Almost 20 percent of UIC students live within 2 miles of campus and about 35
percent live within 5 miles. In FY2007, 3,109 students resided in campus housing
in the east, south or west sides. Beginning in FY2008, 3,700 students resident on
campus.
Close to 90 percent of UIC students have a valid driver’s license and about 72
percent have a private vehicle available to them.
More than 60 percent of UIC U-PASS users are “moderate intensity users” who
ride the transit system between 32 and 106 times per semester. About 18
percent are “high intensity users” who ride the system 106 times per semester.
Only 5 percent of U-PASS holders are non-users (never used the transit system
at all during a semester).
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Policy Statement
Consistent with our mission of creating a sustainable urban campus, we recommend
adopting a cost-effective, opportunistic and equitable short-term strategy towards the
achieving the university’s sustainability goals and a long term strategy that incorporates
modern, efficient and technologically innovative transportation and grounds systems
and programs, enabling the University to respond to increasing demands while
maximizing options and benefits and minimizing the negative impact on individuals,
human health, and the environment.
Recommendations
This list consolidates the subcommittee’s recommendations by topic. Please refer to the
expanded list of recommendations found on page 34.
Recommendations for Transportation
Transportation Demand
There are numerous strategies that can be utilized to increase sustainable mode use in
the UIC campus.
Boosting bicycle usage e.g. expanding the bike lane network, provide secure
parking.
Promote and expand UIC Transportation Benefit Program.
Improve transit stop security and amenities.
Adopt alternatives to air travel such as the use of videoconferencing, Hybrid
rental vehicles or AMTRAK.
Education and outreach.
Ridesharing.
Guaranteed ride home programs for emergency situations.
Relieving Parking Services of the management of the Transit Benefit program.
Travel training to faculty/students and students.
Aggressively seek federal/state grant money.
Specialized bus service such as express or subscription services.
Analyze Shuttle Bus and Red Car services to improve efficiency.
Review price of on-campus parking.
An Ozone Action Day.
Telecommuting and Compressed Work Week
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Energy and Vehicles
Based on analyses made by the Campus Master Planning consultants, more
direct routing of buses should be implemented.
Engage the CTA in discussions as to whether there are opportunities to provide
services to the entire campus community in more economical ways by utilizing
and expanding on their existing bus routes.
Continue to phase in hybrids and vehicles with higher fuel economy for the
campus fleet.
Evaluate whether car-sharing options such as I-Go or Zipcar could be utilized for
campus travel purposes.
Recommendations for Grounds
Establishment of a Grounds Advisory Committee to assist in implementing listed
tree and landscape guidelines (as in full report).
Urban Forestry: adoption of an urban forestry program, such as Tree Campus
USA that provides essential tools in supporting and recognizing grounds
managers’ efforts, addresses long-term environmental sustainability and commits
annual expenditures for tree care on campus.
Utilization of the campus grounds as a resource for research, education and
outreach at all levels.
Sponsor outreach and educational events that engage community and support
long term strategies.
UIC should explore the possibility of obtaining funds for activities such as;
quarterly information sessions to educate employees and hiring a grounds
coordinator to manage sustainable landscape initiatives.
Capture stormwater onsite
Composting
Reduce/eliminate irrigation
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Table of Contents
Executive Summary ..........................................................................................................iii
Summary of Findings ................................................................................................... iv
Recommendations ............................................................................................................ v
Recommendations for Transportation ........................................................................... v
Recommendations for Grounds ................................................................................... vi
Table of Contents .............................................................................................................vii
Table of Figures .............................................................................................................. viii
Table of Tables ............................................................................................................... viii
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
Report Guidance ............................................................................................................... 3
Objectives of Analysis and Data ....................................................................................... 5
Existing Sources of Data ............................................................................................... 6
Primary Data Collection Effort ....................................................................................... 6
Major Findings ........................................................................................................... 7
Parking and Transit Benefit Use ................................................................................. 19
Campus Fleet .................................................................................................................. 24
Grounds Data .................................................................................................................. 27
Primary Data Collection Effort ..................................................................................... 28
Performance on STARS Standards ................................................................................ 28
UIC Campus Master Plan Initial Findings ....................................................................... 30
Summary of Major Findings ............................................................................................ 32
Recommendations .......................................................................................................... 34
Recommendations for Transportation ......................................................................... 34
Recommendations for Grounds .................................................................................. 44
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Table of Figures
Figure 1: Residential Locations of Faculty and Staff ......................................................... 9
Figure 2: Transit Availability to Faculty and Staff ............................................................ 10
Figure 3: Pedestrian Amenities available to Faculty and Staff ........................................ 11
Figure 4: Distribution of UIC Students Residence from Campus .................................... 12
Figure 5: Mode Split for UIC Commuters using one mode of Transportation ................. 13
Figure 6: Diurnal pattern of rides by U-PASS holders..................................................... 15
Figure 7: Reasons for using U-PASS.............................................................................. 18
Figure 8: Reasons for not using U-PASS........................................................................ 18
Figure 9: Total Parking Assignments by User Type ........................................................ 22
Figure 10: Parking Assignment by Location, East Side .................................................. 23
Figure 11: Parking Assignments by Location, West Side ............................................... 23
Figure 12: Transit Benefit Participation ........................................................................... 24
Figure 13: UIC Fleet Fuel Consumption.......................................................................... 25
Table of Tables
Table 1: Mode Shares by commuter type for those using one mode* ............................ 14
Table 2: Mode Choice by Percentage of Use for those using three modes .................... 15
Table 3: Frequency distribution of respondent:rides taken per semester using U-PASS 17
Table 4: Parking Facility Information East Campus ........................................................ 20
Table 5: Parking Facility Information West Campus ....................................................... 21
Table 6: Daytime Intercampus, Total Passengers .......................................................... 26
Table 7: Evening Intercampus, Total Passengers .......................................................... 26
Table 8: Commuter Shuttle, Total Passengers ............................................................... 27
Table 9: Weekend and Holiday Intercampus, Total Passengers .................................... 27
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Introduction
The Transportation and Grounds (T & G) Subcommittee of the UIC
Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy has been
assigned the task of reviewing transportation and landscape and
grounds practices on campus and to develop recommendations to
improve sustainability and environmentally friendly strategies in these
areas. Towards this end, the subcommittee undertook a strategy of
identifying the major issues and concerns in these areas, to collect
relevant data and to develop a set of short-term that are practical,
cost-effective and equitable and take advantage of available services
and programs. The committee also recommends several long-term
strategies that are the innovative and makes use of cutting-edge
technology to improve sustainability practices.
UIC has 25,000 students and over 12,000 faculty and staff. The
campus is located west of the Chicago loop on approximately 240
acres. The campus has the nation’s largest medical school and over
100 buildings. Northeastern Illinois is a moderate non-attainment area
for the 8-hour ozone standard and a non-attainment area for the
annual fine particulate matter standard (PM2.5) (Chicago Metropolitan
Agency for Planning, 2009). Cook County, in which UIC is located,
has been ranked the county with the third highest level of carbon
emissions in the U.S. (with 13,209,000 tons of carbon per year), after
Harris County, TX and Los Angeles County, CA. (CleanBeta, 2009).
Crain’s Chicago Business ranked UIC the 17th largest employer in the
City of Chicago in 2003. The adoption of sustainable transportation
and grounds policies and operations not only has the potential to
harvest benefits that accrue to “early adopters”, but also to bring
about benefits to the region as a whole.
Sustainable Transportation and Grounds
Sustainable transportation or sustainable mobility practices commonly
address the environmental and ecological impacts of travel, including
the influence of the transportation sector on energy consumption,
greenhouse gases, air quality emissions, air and water quality and
habitats. There are several definitions of sustainable transportation,
many of which are restricted to the physical and environmental
aspects of transportation; for example, the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) defined sustainable
transportation as: "Transportation that does not endanger public
health or ecosystems and meets mobility needs consistent with (a)
use of renewable resources at below their rates of regeneration and
(b) use of non-renewable resources at below the rates of development
of renewable substitutes” (OECD, 1994).
However, over time, sustainable transportation has also emphasized
the concepts of social equity and economic effectiveness. For
example, the World Bank (1996) emphasized on three components:
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
the economic and financial component (which includes issues of
adequacy of transportation infrastructure funding, organization and
scale), the social component (which emphasizes on adequate access
to transportation by all segments of society) and finally, the
environmental and ecological component (with an emphasis similar to
what was described earlier).
Sustainable grounds emphasize the use of sustainable design
principles in the planning, design, and maintenance of outdoor space.
Design techniques include planting trees to shade buildings from the
sun or protect them from wind, minimizing building heat and cooling
requirements with vegetation, emphasizing plant longevity and health,
reducing the need for potable water for irrigation, using local materials
and buying stock from local growers, or within reasonable distances to
avoid energy use in transportation.
As in the case of sustainable transportation, sustainable grounds and
landscapes consist of an environmental and ecological component, an
economic component and a social justice and equity component.
However, many times, definitions place greater emphasis on the
environmental component, as in the case of the Sustainable Site
Initiative (2008) report, the primary focus of which is the environment,
including those aspects of economic feasibility and social equity that
intersect with the environment.
Vision of UIC Transportation and Grounds
The vision of the UIC Sustainable Transportation and Grounds
Subcommittee is to have transportation and grounds investments,
planning and operations be driven by eco-friendly principles that
target reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The Subcommittee
has put forward a series of benchmarks that are based on desirable
outcomes rather than prescriptive measures, with the aspiration of
enabling UIC to leverage advances in technology and educational
practices and to inspire a change in thinking among administration,
faculty, students and staff.
The goal in doing so is not only to initiate economically feasible and
equitable reductions in greenhouse gases but also to position the
campus in the frontier of leadership among university campuses
nationally in pioneering sustainable transportation and grounds
practices.
Policy Statement
Consistent with our mission of creating a sustainable urban campus,
we recommend adopting a balanced, cost-effective and equitable
short-term strategy towards achieving the university’s sustainable
transportation and grounds goals and a long term strategy that
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
incorporates modern, efficient and technologically innovative
transportation and grounds systems and programs, thereby enabling
the University to respond to increasing demands while maximizing
options and benefits and minimizing the negative impact on
individuals, human health, and the environment.
Report Guidance
The Subcommittee’s deliberations and analysis were guided by a set
of commitments, standards and policies: firstly, the American College
& University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the
Illinois Sustainable University Compact, secondly, the Sustainability
Tracking and Rating Assessment (STARS) standards, which were
developed through a collaborative effort by the Association for
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and
secondly, strategies and policies that have developed over time in the
transportation and landscape sectors, including Transportation
Demand Management, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
(CMAQ), Urban Forestry and Arboriculture practices.
ACUPCC & Illinois Sustainable University Compact
On September 14, 2007, UIC became an inaugural signatory to the
American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment that
recognizes that colleges and universities must provide leadership in
their communities by modeling ways to minimize global warming
emissions and by providing the knowledge and skills to students to
address the critical challenges and develop solutions to the issues we
face today. The first part of the commitment was to initiate two or
more tangible actions to reduce greenhouse gases while the more
comprehensive plan is being developed. One of UIC’s tangible actions
is to encourage the use of and provide access to public transportation
for all faculty, staff, students and visitors at our institution.
In cooperation with the Illinois Green Government Coordinating
Council, chaired by then Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn, and
universities and community colleges across Illinois, UIC joined the
Illinois Sustainable University Compact on February 7, 2008. Among
UIC’s six goals, pledged to be accomplish by December 31, 2010 is to
promote more sustainable transportation options, such as purchasing
hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles whenever practical, using renewable
fuels for our campus fleet and establishing successful car-sharing and
carpooling programs on campus.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
STARS Standards
The STARS standards are comprised of a credit system for
sustainable operations. STARS is comprised of two types of credits:
Tier One credits are worth one or more points and, where possible,
are based on sustainability outcomes; Tier Two credits are worth less
than one point and, in general, recognize strategies institutions can
adopt to move toward sustainability.
STARS points can be earned in three main areas: education and
research, operations and administration and finance. Details may be
found in AASHE (2008). Transportation and grounds are included
under the operations category.
Transportation credits can be obtained based on UIC’s performance
on criteria relating to GHG emissions from UIC’s motorized fleet;
Commute Modal Split (or the percentage of the institution’s faculty,
students and staff who travel to campus by means other than Single
Occupant Vehicles (SOV’s)); Commuter Options or the tools,
incentives or programs available in UIC to encourage the use of
alternative modes of transportation such as transit subsidies, bicycle
facilities, awards programs and parking incentives for carpoolers; and
air travel or the extent to which creative solutions have been instituted
to reduce air travel emissions.
STARS credits for grounds can be obtained under the Organic
Campus category, which applies to institutions where only those
pesticides and fertilizers that are allowable under the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s standards for organic crop production are used and
the extent to which non-potable water (or water that is not fit to drink
but may be safely used for other purposes such as reclaimed water,
gray water or rainwater) is used for irrigation.
The Subcommittee’s findings regarding UIC’s performance in the
STARS Transportation and Grounds components are given under the
section on Findings.
Other Policies and Strategies
A variety of other policies and programs informed the Subcommittee
about strategies to improve the sustainability of UIC’s transportation
and grounds. Approaches that were mined from the variety of policies
considered on the basis of feasibility, cost-effectiveness, possibility of
innovation and level of match with UIC faculty and staff interest and
equity.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) are a set of sustainable
mobility practices, the objective of which are to reduce SOV car use or
to otherwise distribute transportation demand over time and space.
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The CMAQ program was instituted by the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Act and supports a variety of strategies targeted
towards improving air quality. Other transportation programs that
informed this report include transit practices, fleet management
practices, employee commute options and community transportation
concepts, employment transportation programs, bicycle and
pedestrian programs, Intelligent Transportation Systems,
Computational Transportation Science and a variety of other
approaches.
Urban forestry is the care, management and protection of urban
forests and tree populations in urban areas, with the specific goal of
raising public awareness of the importance of trees and protecting the
urban environment. Arboriculture is the cultivation and management
of trees and shrubs within the landscape. This includes the study of
how trees grow and respond to cultural practices and the
environment, as well as application of cultural techniques such as
selection, planting, care, surgery and removal. Educational programs
such as Project Learning Tree and Nature Explore Classroom served
as the basis for the education and outreach aspects of the Grounds
component.
It is also recognized the current UIC Campus Master Planning
process, will also provide short-term and long-term recommendations
to improve campus transportation systems and grounds. Relevant
principles in developing the plan include:
Enhance the inter-relationship between the campus and the
community by ensuring that physical improvements promote
way-finding, social interaction, pedestrian traffic and active use
of outdoor spaces.
Improve the practical and symbolic bonds unifying the east
and west sides of campus, reducing impediments to the flow of
people and implementing way-finding, landscape features and
edge treatments that highlight an urban campus identity.
Identify opportunities to make physical improvements to
enhance campus sustainability and thereby reduce its carbon
footprint and conserve natural resources.
Objectives of Analysis and Data
The objectives of the analysis undertaken as a part of this report are:
To understand travel and transportation use patterns by UIC
and students, staff and faculty and to identify areas where
travel alternatives may exist;
To examine where opportunities may exist to incorporate
sustainable grounds practices.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
The findings reported in this section are based on analysis of existing
data as well as a primary data collection:
Existing Sources of Data
Analysis undertaken by the Urban Transportation Center:
- Analysis of the UTC’s Spatial Decision Support System, a
geospatial database of indicators on the Chicago metro
area’s economic, social and physical aspects: This
analysis allowed us to obtain aggregate-level
understanding of where UIC faculty and staff reside, the
characteristics of their neighborhoods, their possibility of
using transit and other higher occupancy modes of
transportation – in other words, a market analysis of faculty
and staff potential use of alternative modes of
transportation.
- Survey of UIC U-PASS users conducted as part of the
Center’s grant funded by the Chicago Transit Authority, in
fall 2008 and summarized in a master’s thesis by Swarup
(2009). U-PASS is a program administered by the CTA,
under which students have to pay a certain fee each
semester for unlimited usage in CTA trains and buses for
that semester. The same service is offered in Pace
suburban bus service. The survey was administered to
those full-time students at UIC who received (or were
eligible to receive) U-Passes during 2003-2007. A total of
3,327 completed surveys were received. The purpose of
using data from this survey is to understand student travel
behavior and incentives and programs that can be
developed to encourage more transit usage by students.
.
Data provided by UIC Facilities Management. Information on
parking, vehicles, ridership, fuel consumption, program costs, and
other amenities was provided.
Primary Data Collection Effort
UIC Campus Commuter Survey, conducted by the Office of
Sustainability. This survey was conducted as part of the active
transportation program that UIC participates in with the Chicago
Department of Transportation and was partially funded by a
National Wildlife Federation Campus Ecology Fellowship to refine
UIC’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The Office of Sustainability
surveyed the UIC campus community in November and December
2008 regarding the primary modes of transportation used to
commute to UIC. Responses from 2785 UIC campus community
members were used to prepare this analysis. Respondents
identified themselves as faculty, staff, full-time students, or part-
time students.
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Major Findings
UIC has a total of 41 parking lots with 11,944 parking spaces in the
East and West campuses combined. Intercampus shuttle buses
provide service between East, West and South campuses. On-
campus paratransit service is available with appropriate authorization
for UIC faculty, students and staff with disabilities. The Red Car/Off-
Hour Paratransit Service is an escort service that provides
transportation to university employees, students, visitors, and other
authorized individuals between university facilities and from university
facilities to points of public transportation, or to private residences
within a designated area and a Chauffeur service is also available.
Commuter buses operate between the campus and the Union and
Northwestern Metra train stations. The Chicago Transit Authority
operates several bus routes through the campus area and the Blue
line “El” goes through the north and west side of campus.
Campus fleet vehicles include those used for Campus Auto Rental
Service, the campus police, departmental use, and vehicles used for
on-site operations and maintenance.
UIC has 25,000 students and over 12,000 faculty and staff. Visitors,
hospital patients and special event attendees also add to the demand
for transportation and use of grounds facilities. In FY2007, meetings
and conferences on campus hosted 397,572 guests at 10,268
meetings in the UIC Student Centers. A total of 331,757 visits were
made to the Student Recreation Facility and 155,395 were made to
the Sport and Fitness Center. This included 17,264 unique individuals.
The UIC Pavilion attracted 296,044 people to 125 events. Attendance
at events sponsored by Campus Programs was 176,991. UIC Flames
home basketball games drew 74,254 sports fans.
Residential Locations and Commuting Distances
Figure 1 shows a map of zipcodes where UIC faculty and staff reside.
While faculty and staff reside in neighborhoods that are scattered all
over the six-county Northeastern Illinois region (comprising Cook,
DuPage, Lake, Will, McHenry and Kane counties), there are clusters
of areas within 10-15 miles with high concentrations of faculty and
staff.
Commuters typically decide on the mode of transportation to use not
only on the basis of convenience and cost of different options, but
also on the basis of the availability of the options to them. For this
reason, we have analyzed the extent to which taking transit or walking
are options to UIC faculty and staff. Figure 2 shows the level of transit
availability in the Chicago metro area, with the intensity of UIC
faculty/staff superimposed by graduated dots, which are indicative of
the number of faculty/staff. The Transit Availability Index (TAI) is a
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
composite index giving the extent to which residents have access to
transit (bus and rail). The TAI measure is based on three input
measures – frequency (person-minutes served), hours of service
(number of hours) and service coverage (percentage of the area
covered). Close to 38% of faculty and staff reside in zipcodes where
the TAI values are excellent to good.
Another indicator of the ability of faculty and staff to use alternative
modes of transportation is the extent to which their neighborhoods are
pedestrian friendly. Figure 3 shows the extent to which faculty and
staff resides in areas that are pedestrian friendly as measured by a
Pedestrian Friendliness Index (PFI). The PFI is a composite index
ranking tract suitability for non-motorized travel including pedestrian
and bike travel. The PFI is calculated with input values of population,
income, number of households, amount of commercial and residential
land uses as a percentage of census tracts, weighted pedestrian trip
origins and destinations from the census journey to work data, and
Pedestrian Environment Factor (PEF) values, where PEF’s are the
average number of blocks for the quarter section within each census
tract and the eight adjacent quarter sections. Close to 40% of UIC
faculty and staff reside in areas within the six counties that have
excellent PFI levels; another 25% or so reside in areas with “Good”
values of PFI. These patterns are indicative of the necessary
infrastructure being there for a large number of faculty staff to be able
to access transit, express bus and other higher occupancy modes of
travel.
Figures 2 and 3 also show that there are enough “spatially clustered’
groups of faculty and staff to whom transit is not available or who do
not reside in areas which are conducive to biking or walking.
Employees in these spatially clustered groups may be better served
with express buses, vanpools, carpools and other high occupancy
modes.
The distribution of distances at which students live from campus is
shown in Figure 4. Almost 20% of UIC students live within 2 miles of
campus and about 35% live within 5 miles. In FY2007, 3,109 students
resided in campus housing in the east, south or west sides. Students
also share apartments or have other types of shared housing in the
Taylor Street, Pilsen and Tri-Taylor areas. Many students also live in
neighborhoods along the CTA Blue line. However, a large number of
students appear to be commuting more than 25 miles to come to
school. Close to 90% of UIC students have a valid driver’s license and
about 72% have a private vehicle available to them.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Figure 1: Residential Locations of Faculty and Staff
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Figure 2: Transit Availability to Faculty and Staff
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Figure 3: Pedestrian Amenities available to Faculty and Staff
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Figure 4: Distribution of UIC Students Residence from Campus
25
20
Percent of Students
15
10
5
0
0-1 1-2 3-5 6-8 9-11 12-15 16-18 19-21 22-25 > 25
Miles from Campus
Note: Not all students’ campus addresses were provided in the source data, therefore
there are a large number of students with addresses > 25 miles.
Commute Mode Split
A little over half (55.4%) of the UIC Office of Sustainability Commute
survey respondents, use one mode of transportation to commute to
UIC. The average distance traveled by those using one mode of
transportation is 11 miles.
The mode split of commuters who use one mode from their trip from
home to UIC is given in Figure 5. Approximately 43% of these
commuters drive alone, 18% use the CTA “El” and 11% use CTA or
Pace bus. About 7% reported biking and another 8% reported walking
to campus.
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Figure 5: Mode Split for UIC Commuters using one mode of Transportation
Mode Split by Percentage
One travel mode only
3% 2%
7%
8%
Drive Alone
"El"
43%
CTA or PACE Bus
8%
Carpool
Walk
Bike
11% MetraRail
Intercampus or Semester
Express Shuttle
18%
The mode shares by type of commuter who reported using only one
mode is given in Table 1. Across all types of commuters, the percent
of individuals driving alone is the highest for all types of modes. Staff
are most likely to drive, followed by part-time students and then
faculty. Staff are also most likely to carpool. Full-time students are the
most likely to use public transportation (CTA el, CTA or Pace bus or
Metra Commuter Rail). Reflecting the close proximity in which
students reside to campus, full-time students are also the most likely
to use non-motorized transportation (bike and walk) to campus.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Table 1: Mode Shares by commuter type for those using one mode*
T Full-time Part-time Faculty Staff
h Student Students
Drive Alone 22.5 51.2 45.7 56.1
CTA “El” 24.9 23.8 17.6 12.3
Bus 18.8 4.8 4.5 7.6
Carpool 2.7 7.1 10.4 11.5
Walk T 13.0 2.4 5.0 4.6
h
Bike 12.2 9.5 10.0 3.5
e
Metra Rail 1.7 1.2 4.1 3.3
Intercampus 4.1 0 2.7 1.1
or Express
Shuttle
T
*Short-distance walking may be involved in accessing transit stops and stations
The number of modes used tends to increase with the distance
traveled from home to campus. The average distance traveled for
those using two modes is 20 miles; for those using three modes, 28
miles. Approximately 44.6% of the survey respondents use two or
more transportation modes to get to UIC. Metra users lead the group
of commuters who use two modes of transportation to UIC. Of those
who drive for the first segment of the commute to UIC, 55% drive to
the “El” and 24% drive to Metra. Those who take Metra for the first
segment of the commute to UIC, about 94% travel more than 10 miles
on Metra and 67% travel 20 miles or farther
Those who walk or bike for the first segment of the commute to UIC,
about 80% walk and 20% ride a bicycle. About 65% of these non-
motorized trips are 1 mile or less, 13% are 2 miles and 14% are
reported to be between 3 and 5 miles.
The average distance traveled by those who use three modes of
transportation to get to UIC is 28 miles. Table 2 gives the distribution
of respondents with first, second or third mode choices. About 18% of
survey respondents use three modes of transportation to get to UIC.
Close to 40% of this group identifies as full-time students and all use
the U-Pass. The first segment of the commute for this group is mixed;
almost 37% drive to transit and 22% walk. Transit is the mode of
choice for the second segment of the commute; 89% of this group use
Metra, the “El” or a bus for the second part of their commute. The last
segment of the commute to UIC tends to be a shorter distance, but
the mode varies. 32% take a bus, 30% walk and 24% take the “El.”
The overall commute pattern for this group consists of a trip of short
distance (less than five miles) followed by a long distance trip, ending
with a short distance.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Table 2: Mode Choice by Percentage of Use for those using three modes
First Mode %of Second Mode %of Use Third Mode % of
Share Use Share Share Use
Drive Alone 37% Metra 57% CTA or PACE 32%
Bus
Walk 22% “El” 20% Walk 30%
CTA (or PACE) 13% CTA (or PACE) 12% “El” 24%
Bus Bus
Metra 11% Walk 4% Intercampus 8%
Shuttle
Carpool 8% Bike 2% Commuter 3%
Shuttle
Bike 6% Intercampus or 2% Bike 2%
Commuter
Shuttle
“El” 4% Drive Alone 2% Metra 2%
Schedules and Arrival Times
Work schedules are an important component of travel demand.
Academic institutions are likely to have a greater percentage of
workers who are on variable schedules, compared to private
businesses and government agencies, which are more likely to
operate during the usual “9 to 5” times.
In UIC, staff and part-time students have the most predictable
schedules. Faculty members tend to be on campus during the
business day with a somewhat varied schedule, while full-time
students have the greatest schedule variety, with more than 25%
stating that their schedules vary considerably.
The distribution of rides made by U-PASS holders is given, by type of
day (weekday or weekend day) in Figure 6. For weekday rides, it can
be seen that the peak time period is the midday period (9AM-3PM).
Thus, student U-PASS holders do not have the typical travel profiles
of commuters in general – for general commuters, there is a morning
peak of transit rides (6AM-10AM) and an evening peak (3PM-7PM).
Looking at the time distribution of trips over the weekend (which are in
all likelihood, discretionary or recreational trips), the peak hours for U-
Pass trips are the midday time period (9AM to 3PM) and the evening
time period (6PM-9PM). One implication of this pattern is that the U-
PASS program is helping boost transit ridership during time periods
when it does not typically have high volumes of riders.
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Figure 6: Diurnal pattern of rides by U-PASS holders
50.00%
40.00% 40.08%
Rides per Semester
30.00% 27.71%
28.71%
24.87%
22.22%
20.00% 20.28%
19.40%
10.00% 9.47%
3.90% 3.37%
0.00%
6 AM-9 AM 9 AM-3 PM 3 PM-6 PM 6 PM-9 PM 9 PM-6 AM
Time of Day
♦ Weekday ■ Weekend
U-PASS Use Patterns
The U-PASS first came to UIC in the fall of 2001 for undergraduate
students. The addition of the graduate students from the Graduate
College, College of Pharmacy, and School of Public Health started in
fall 2002. On August 5th 2004, the Regional Transit Authority Board
approved an agreement for Pace buses to accept all CTA fare cards,
including the U-PASS. This was discontinued January 1, 2009. The
renewal of the U-PASS program and nonrefundable CTA
transportation fee included undergraduate students and graduate
students from the Graduate College, College of Pharmacy, School of
Public Health, and Doctorate of Physical Therapy program, as well as
the addition of College of Dentistry students and the M1 and M2
students from the College of Medicine beginning fall 2005. College of
Medicine students voted 72% in favor of having the U-PASS available
to all classes beginning summer 2007. Every year the students must
vote on a referendum each April to approve the U-PASS for the
following year. It continues to have strong support.
The student U-PASS program has been a successful application of a
transit program to assist in student mobility. Table 3 shows the
frequency distribution of rides taken per semester using U-PASS.
More than 60 percent of UIC U-PASS users are “moderate intensity
users” who ride the transit system between 32 and 106 times per
semester. About 18% are “high intensity users” who ride the system
106 times per semester. Only 5% of U-PASS holders are non-users
(never used the transit system at all during a semester).
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Table 3: Frequency distribution of respondents by rides taken per semester using U-PASS
Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
Non-Users (0 rides per semester) 164 5.30 5.30
Low Intensity Users (0106 rides
556 17.82 100.00
per semester)
Total 3,117 100.00
U-PASS users were asked for reasons why they used the U-Pass and
the non-users were asked for reasons for which they did not use the
U-Pass. Given below, in Figures 7 and 8 are the reasons outlined by
students for both using and not using U-Pass respectively.
Reasons such as ease of use and overall convenience have the
highest ratings as reasons for using the U-Pass. These are followed
by reduced expenditure on parking and current high parking costs, no
need to carry change for transit and reduction in traffic and
congestion. Thus, in the minds of the users, transit service related
factors rank low when it comes to their playing a part in U-Pass usage
and convenience to the user ranks higher.
On the other hand, when it comes to reasons for not using the U-
Pass, excessive waiting times for buses/trains has the highest rating.
This is followed by availability of a private vehicle at all times, transit
being too slow and limited service at night. Therefore, non-users of
the U-Pass regard drawbacks in transit service as an important
reason for not using transit. Also, the availability of a private vehicle
plays an important role.
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Figure 7: Reasons for using U-PASS
I 6.10
H 5.76
Reason for Using the U-Pass
G 6.79
F 8.16
E 7.01
D 8.51
C 8.27
B 7.43
A 8.50
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Average Rating
A: Overall convenience E: Fast and reliable transit service
B: To avoid traffic and congestion F: No need to carry change
C: Reduction in expenditure on parking/ G: Environmental reasons
high parking costs H: It provides health benefits
D: Ease of use I: Lack of any other options
Figure 8: Reasons for not using U-PASS
J 5.69
I 4.88
Reason for Not Using the U-Pass
H 4.76
G 3.71
F 6.32
E 4.78
D 6.08
C 4.84
B 5.09
A 6.20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Mean Rating
A: A private vehicle is available for me all the F: Waiting time for buses/ trains is excessive
time G: Transit service is not available in my area
B: I require a private vehicle for the various H: Safety concerns
trips that I take during the day I: CTA stations and buses are not clean
C: Transit is too crowded J: Service at night is very limited
D: Transit is too slow
E: I need to transfer too many times
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Parking and Transit Benefit Use
UIC has a total of 41 parking lots with 11,944 parking spaces in the
East and West campuses combined, with a foot print of 43.7 acres.
UIC Parking Services is a self-supporting entity that uses its revenue
solely to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain parking
facilities at the University. The parking program also absorbs the
displacement costs for surface lots used for academic buildings.
State funds made available to the University are not used to subsidize
departmental operations nor pay the fees for its users. Daily parking
utilization is approximately 64% (81% west campus, 50% east
campus). The medical community parking needs affords the university
opportunity to allocate parking space more efficiently.
UIC Parking costs for Keycard parking for FY09:
$67.74/month for an unreserved stall
$109.64/month for a reserved stall
$45.42/month for nights only
The daily rate in a parking facility is $10 and Pavilion event parking is
$10-13 per event. Coupons are available in packages of 100 and 10
at that provide a small discount to the daily rate. Units will often
purchase a reciprocal parking pass for employees that need to work
frequently on the “other” side of campus. On an annual basis this
comes to $156. The cost of parking is much lower than in downtown
Chicago. The Chicago Tribune, in August of 2007, identified the
average monthly parking rate in the city of Chicago as $350, with a
median daily rate of $28.00. Parking prices have since increased.
Special events on campus can generate 100% parking lot utilization in
the parking areas close to the venue. Parking utilization per lot is
shown in the following tables.
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Table 4: Parking Facility Information East Campus
UIC Parking Facility Information East (& South) Campus
Total Utilization
Lot Name Address Lot Type Stalls #Assigned Percentage
1A 1109 W. Harrison Card Access 456 426 93.42%
1B 1139 W. Harrison Card Access, Visitor 414 316 76.33%
Card Access, Visitor,Pay per
4 Polk 761 W. Polk Space- 60, (inc. in space count) 93 0
Card Access, Visitor, Meter- 35,
5 1135 S. Morgan Motorcycle- 13 846 740 87.47%
6 1135 S. Halsted Card Access 364 167 45.88%
8 401 S. Peoria Reserved 18 16 88.89%
9/9A 501 S. Morgan Card Access, Visitor 353 184 52.12%
10 900 W. Taylor Reserved 67 45 67.16%
11 1055 W. Congress Pkwy. Card Access 139 118 84.89%
12 808 S. Clinton Card Access 22 10 45.45%
14 1245 S. Newberry Card Access, Visitor 127 0
14 729 W. Rochford Visitor 153 0
18A 1215 W. Congress Pkwy. Card Access, Meter- 36 68 0
20 1101 W. Taylor Card Access 10 8 80.00%
HRPS 1100 W. Harrison Card Access, Visitor 1237 764 61.76%
HTPS 760 W. Taylor Card Access, Visitor 1513 1,394 92.13%
MSPS 701 W. Maxwell Card Access, Visitor 647 262 40.49%
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Table 5: Parking Facility Information West Campus
UIC Parking Facility Information West Campus
Total # Parking
Lot Name Address Lot Type Stalls Assigned Utilization
Percentage
A3 1934 W. Taylor Card Access 60 66 110.00%
A4 1937 W. Taylor Card Access 75 61 81.33%
AOB 860 S. Paulina Card Access 9 0.00%
Card Access-
B2 900 S. Wolcott Disabled, Visitors 54 0.00%
B4 1836 W. Grenshaw Card Access 65 65 100.00%
C1 805 S. Wolcott Reserved 29 22 75.86%
Card Access,
Visitor,Dialysis- 25
C4 1119 S. Wolcott (included in space 118 142 120.34%
Reserved, Card
E 820 S. Paulina Access, Visitor 314 248 78.98%
E4 1121 S. Hermitage Card Access 29 22 75.86%
F 901 S. Paulina Card Access 94 77 81.91%
F4 1135 S. Paulina Card Access 66 71 107.58%
G 921 S. Marshfield Card Access 191 216 113.09%
G4 1138 S. Ashland Card Access 31 27 87.10%
H 1101 S. Paulina Card Access 95 91 95.79%
Card Access,Meters-
J 1637 W. Taylor 10 110 103 93.64%
K 1617 W. Taylor Card Access 80 93 116.25%
L 1818 W. Taylor Visitors 6 0.00%
Card Access, Meters=
17: 9 on Washburne, 8
M 1728 W. Washburne in lot 229 247 107.86%
N1 713 S. Wood Card Access 25 21 84.00%
O 1210 S. Wood Card Access 116 131 112.93%
W3 2030 W. Polk Card Access 52 50 96.15%
W4 1007 S. Hoyne Card Access 33 37 112.12%
W5 1022 S. Hoyne Card Access 118 142 120.34%
Card Access,
PSPS 915 S. Paulina Visitor 1,124 1,577 140.30%
Card Access,
WSPS 1100 S. Wood Visitor 2,310 2,442 105.71%
Meters (inc. in
Wood St. Mtr 1019 S. Wood space count) 58 0 N/A
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Data provided by Parking Services is displayed in Figures 9, 10 and
11. Parking permits charts show the change in the number of permit
holders by certain classifications for the years FY01-09. There has
been a 33% overall decrease in permit holders. This decrease is
particularly evident for students (230%) and aligns with the
implementation of the U-PASS program in 2001 on campus.
Residents also show a significant reduction in parking use (25%),
although they do not have access to the U-PASS. The other
categories have remained fairly constant, given change in population.
During the years 2004 to 2008, the overall population of students
increased 8.7% and the population of faculty and staff increased 5%.
An interesting comparison can be made between the east and west
side data. There has been a 38% decrease among non-academic
employee parking permits on the east side, whereas there has been a
slight increase on the west side. This may be partially due to the
reduction in non-academic employees of the years.
Figure 9: Total Parking Assignments by User Type
Total Parking Assignments
by User Type
7000
6000
Number of Parking
5000 Students
Assignments
Residents
4000
Academic
3000 Non-Academic
2000 Nurses
1000
0
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
01
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Fiscal Year
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Figure 10: Parking Assignment by Location, East Side
Parking Assignment by Location
N umber of P arking EAST SIDE
6000
A ssignments
5000
4000 Students
3000 Academic
2000 Non-Academic
1000
0
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Fiscal Year
Figure 11: Parking Assignments by Location, West Side
Parking Assignments by Location
WEST SIDE
2500
Students
Assignments
2000
Number of
Residents
1500
Academic
1000
Non-Academic
500 Nurses
0
02
08
09
01
03
04
05
06
07
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Fiscal Year
The Pre-Tax Qualified Transportation Program is based on a revision
in the Internal Revenue Service Code that allows benefits eligible
employees to realize income tax savings by paying for commuting
expenses with pre-tax dollars. There is no direct benefit to the
university since employees that participate in the program do not pay
FICA. The Transit Benefit is managed through Parking Services. The
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
estimated annual administrative cost for the Transit Benefit Program
is $60,786. The transit benefit chart (Figure 12) describes the change
in number of subscribers to the program for years FY02-09. The
Academic designation includes faculty and academic professionals.
Non-academic includes civil service staff. The number of academic
participants has increased 233% while the number of non-academic
participants has increased only 26%. During the years 2004 to 2008
the faculty and staff population has increased 5%.
Figure 12: Transit Benefit Participation
Transit Benefit Participation
1000
Total Participation
800 Academic
600 Participants
400 Non-Academic
Participants
200
0
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
20
Fiscal Year
Campus Fleet
The Department of Transportation and Grounds under Facilities
Management operates the campus fleet. It participates in the Illinois
Green Fleets Program. The Illinois Green Fleets Program is a
voluntary program where businesses, government units, and other
organizations in Illinois gain recognition and additional marketing
opportunities for having clean, green, domestic, renewable, American
fuel vehicles in their fleet. It is a program to recognize a fleet
manager's progressive efforts in using environmentally friendly
vehicles and fuels to improve air quality while promoting our domestic
fuels for greater national energy security.
(http://www.illinoisgreenfleets.org/fact-sheet.html#1). In addition, there
is a Federal requirement that 70% of new vehicle acquisitions must be
flex-fuel vehicles so the department has been purchasing a
combination of hybrids and E-85 flex-fuel vehicles. UIC has been
meeting that requirement.
In Fall 2008, the campus fleet was comprised of 233 vehicles
including 4 biofuel (CNG) grounds trucks, 10 CNG buses, 2 CNG
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vans, 3 diesel buses, 24 other diesel vehicles, 26 E-85 vehicles, 4
hybrid Ford Escapes, 1 hybrid Malibu, 5 hybrid Priuses, and the
remainder are gasoline powered vehicles. UIC operates its own
garage and fueling station that supplies gasoline, diesel, and
compressed natural gas (CNG). There is no E-85 tank so gasoline is
utilized in the E-85 vehicles. Some of the buses operate on natural
gas. However, due to high maintenance costs, more recently
purchased buses have used diesel. Fleet fuel consumption is
displayed in Figure 13. Since FY2006 there has been a slight
decrease in fuel consumption. The sharp increase is natural gas
consumption between 2005 and 2006 is due to differing sources in
data, as the meter on the natural gas tank was not functioning
properly.
Figure 13: UIC Fleet Fuel Consumption
UIC Fleet Fuel Consumption
140,000 7,000
120,000 6,000
MMBtu
100,000 5,000
Gasoline Fleet
Gallons
80,000 4,000
Diesel Fleet
60,000 3,000 Natural Gas Fleet
40,000 2,000
20,000 1,000
- -
2005 2006 2007 2008
Fiscal Year
The campus shuttle system is comprised of several routes that are
funded through various mechanisms:
The intercampus shuttle system runs a circuitous route, 7-days
a week between the east and west sides of campus and
surrounding neighborhoods. It is serves faculty, staff and
students at no charge and is funded by Facilities Management.
The frequency and routing various slightly depending on the
time of day and whether it is a weekday or weekend and
whether classes are in session.
The semester express primarily serves the students living in
the south campus residence halls and has limited stops,
running twice an hour during peak travel times during the week
when classes are in session. This route is funded by Campus
Auxiliary Services.
The UIC Commuter Buses operate between the UIC campus,
Union and Northwestern Train Stations at scheduled times
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
during the work week. Riders pay a $2.00 per trip fare that
must be purchased in packets of 10 tickets. This route
designed to be self-supporting.
The Red Car/Off-Hour Paratransit Service is an escort service
that provides transportation to university employees, students,
visitors, and other authorized individuals between university
facilities and from university facilities to points of public
transportation, or to private residences within a designated
area. This route is funded by Facilities Management.
On-campus Paratransit Service is available seven days a
week for students, faculty and staff with disabilities. This route
is funded by Facilities Management.
Records of ridership for all the routes were reviewed for the years
FY01 to FY07. With the exception of the Red Car and the Paratransit
services, there has been a steady decrease in ridership on these
services (See Tables 6 to 9). This is most likely attributed to the
introduction of the U-Pass on campus making multiple routes
available to students. Also, the availability of the Metra Link pass with
routes from campus to the Metra stations, decreased frequency of
service, and the increased cost of the Commuter Shuttle has probably
contributed to the reduction in passengers.
Table 6: Daytime Intercampus, Total Passengers
DAYTIME INTERCAMPUS TOTAL PASSENGERS
FY07
FISCAL YEAR
FY05
FY03
FY01
0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000
Table 7: Evening Intercampus, Total Passengers
EVENING INTERCAMPUS TOTAL PASSENGERS
FY07
FISCAL YEAR
FY05
FY03
FY01
0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000 160000 180000 200000
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Table 8: Commuter Shuttle, Total Passengers
COMMUTER SHUTTLE TOTAL PASSENGERS
FY07
FISCAL YEAR
FY05
FY03
FY01
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000
Table 9: Weekend and Holiday Intercampus, Total Passengers
WEEKEND AND HOLIDAY INTERCAMPUS TOTAL PASSENGERS
FY07
FY06
FISCAL YEAR
FY05
FY04
FY03
FY02
FY01
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000
Grounds Data
Implementation of environmentally sustainable grounds operation
practices is predicated on the campuses ability to measure and
quantify the cost benefits. Collection of baseline data and ongoing
analysis of this data will facilitate accountability, identify ‘hot spots’ in
grounds operations and provide a method for identifying and
prioritizing future projects.
UIC has over 5100 trees and 90.7 acres of green space. UIC has
begun to utilize some sustainable grounds and landscaping
practices. UIC has installed a cistern to capture run-off from the roof
on the UIC Forum and the water will be utilized to irrigate the
plantings in the area. In 2008, a green roof was installed on the
Architecture and Arts Building and another green roof is planned for
the Behavioral Sciences Building in summer 2009. UIC collects all
landscaping waste for off-site composting. Typically, 150-200 tons of
landscape material is composted. Irrigation has been reduced over
the years, primarily due to budget cuts that don’t allow proper
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
maintenance of irrigation systems. Native species and plants that are
suitable for Illinois climate without irrigation are being used near
recent and new construction such as the east Recreation Center and
Lincoln Hall.
Evaluation and benchmarking improvements in environmental quality
include the following:
1) Inventory grounds equipment owned and contracted, fuel
consumption, supplies such as fertilizer, snow-melt, pesticides,
2) Identify equipment replacement options and guidelines for future
purchase
3) Perform air, water, soil testing
4) Calculate costs for mowing, trimming, labor, equipment and
supplies for tree planting, maintenance and removal, value of
volunteer labor (# of hours × $18), contributions from student or
civic organizations; maintenance of campus tree inventory, tree
management and public education related to the campus tree
care plan, professional training, and dues for related association
memberships
5) Amount of water for used for irrigation or frequency and location
of irrigation sites
Primary Data Collection Effort
Tree Campus USA and Tree Care Plan
Performance on STARS Standards
The Sustainability Tracking and Rating Assessment (STARS)
developed through a collaborative effort by the Association for
Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) is
comprised of a credit system for sustainable operations. In the
category of transportation UIC meets some of the criteria but could
achieve more points.
Currently, the institution’s motorized fleet emits 0.2 carbon dioxide
equivalent (CO2e) per passenger mile traveled, achieving one
point. We could achieve 2 points by having no CO2e per
passenger mile traveled (carbon neutral fleet).
Another credit is given for having a specified percentage of the
institution's faculty, staff and students getting to and from campus
by a means other than single occupancy vehicle for the majority of
their daily trips. Alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle
transportation include walking, bicycling, van or carpooling, taking
public transportation, or riding a campus shuttle. Currently, 76% of
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the campus community gets to and from campus by alternate
means, giving us two points which is given to an institution that
has more than 50% of the institution’s population primarily using
preferable modes of transportation. We could achieve 3 points if
more than 95% of institution’s population primarily would use
preferable modes of transportation.
We have not achieved credits for commuter options by meeting the
criteria for being recognized by the Best Workplaces for Commuters
program. This credit recognizes institutions with strong programs in
place to encourage employees to use preferable modes of
transportation. The National Standard of Excellence in commuter
benefits, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is
used to determine whether employers qualify for designation under
the Best Workplaces for Commuters program. To encourage their
employees to bike, walk, carpool, or take mass transit to and from
campus, institutions can implement a variety of programs, incentives,
and facilities. Examples of such tools include transit subsidies, bicycle
facilities, awards programs, and parking incentives for carpoolers. UIC
has some of these programs in place but would need more incentives
to meet these criteria.
We also have not achieved the credit for an Organic Campus which
requires the institution to apply to its grounds only pesticides and
fertilizers that are allowable under the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s standards for organic crop production. We would be
more likely to utilize Integrated Pest Management in the near term (a
Tier 2 credit).
Another STARS criterion relates to the percentage of irrigation water
needs met with non-potable water. An institution that gets 50% of its
needs met gets one point and 100% non-potable water for irrigation
gives 2 points. UIC does not currently use any non-potable water for
irrigation but will use some at the Forum from the cistern that will be
installed as soon as the plaza is completed. UIC does meet the
criteria for several Tier 2 credits including landscaping with native
species, inventorying and mapping all campus trees and other
landscape assets, and composting yard waste. UIC does not meet the
criteria for the following:
Develop and implement a rainwater management plan to filter
and mitigate rainwater runoff
Use permeable pavement
Follow best management practices for snow and ice removal
Is recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus
USA program
Grass-cycles grass trimmings
Excerpts from UIC Campus Master Plan Phase I Draft report (4-14-
09)
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UIC Campus Master Plan Initial Findings
The UIC Campus Master Planning process began in the fall of 2008
and will continue for about 18 months. The Vision Statement for the
plan (dated November 26, 2008) states that:
The UIC Campus of the Future will be a public destination that
integrates the learning environment for scholarship with the urban
vitality of a global Chicago. At UIC, students, faculty, staff, alumni,
collaborators, visitors, neighbors, donors, friends, and potential
development partners and other stakeholders will experience a vibrant
campus – featuring sustainable buildings and landscapes – that
engages the learner, satisfies the curious, inspires the creative and
attracts the passerby.
Initial findings from the Phase I work that are relevant to this report
are as follows:
Pedestrian Connection - A viable pedestrian corridor between
the east and west sides of UIC would improve the sense of
campus unity. However, as many reading this document will
know, walking from the center of one side of campus to the
other can take as long as thirty minutes. Hence, while a
pedestrian connection might still be sought, other means of
transportation will need to be re-established to make the
everyday trek between east and west work efficiently.
Bike Lanes - The connections between the two sides of the
campus and between the campus and city could be enabled
through bike lanes.
Bus Routes - UIC provides shuttle buses for students and
faculty to connect the east Side of campus to the west.
Presently, the routes of these buses are too circuitous to
provide an efficient connection and the buses are commonly
slow and late. Further, this diagram shows that the buses don’t
connect the centers of the two sides of campus; rather, the
buses concentrate on peripheral roads such as Harrison Street
and provide too many stops at “front doors” of buildings.
Opportunities for more efficient routes will be considered.
CTA Bus Routes - CTA buses have routes that are far more
direct and efficient than those of the UIC busses. There could
be an opportunity to eliminate or reduce the UIC routes and
provide all UIC people with CTA passes for transport between
the two sides of campus. Additionally, the CTA routes prove
that bus transit is possible on direct roads between east and
west campus, such as Taylor Street.
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CTA Trains - CTA trains are providing an efficient means of
transportation to campus from off-campus residential areas.
However, while CTA Trains offer a good opportunity to
connect each side of campus to the city through existing
infrastructure, they unfortunately do not provide a direct
connection between the east and west sides of campus
without first being routed through the Loop. Without some CTA
changes, this mode of public transportation is not viable for
connecting all sides of campus.
Pedestrian Use of Open Space - West Side pedestrian
circulation is primarily along street sidewalks and
perpendicular mid-block alleys. Diagonal walkways occur in
interior courtyards at the center of the west Side. The heaviest
concentration of pedestrian circulation occurs along the Taylor
St sidewalk, between Wolcott and Paulina, corresponding with
the entrance to the UIC Medical Center. On the east side,
pedestrian routes weave through the campus from north to
south. The Blue Line “El” station at Peoria and the large
surface parking lots to the north and south are the origin of
most foot traffic. These patterns roughly align with the
removed Netsch ‘walkways’. Concentrated diagonal foot traffic
occurs between the BSB and the Quad, before merging with
north-south pedestrians heading further south to the Physical
Education building on Roosevelt Road. The east side
perimeter is bound by arterial streets that discourage
pedestrians from using sidewalks and consolidate foot traffic to
the campus interior.
Open Space Opportunities- Initial analysis of the open space
issues suggested preliminary opportunities for improving the
campus landscape. These bulleted opportunities vary from
replacing pavement with lawn to adding or subtracting
buildings. The itemized opportunities may contradict one
another for a particular area with the objective of considering
widely divergent scenarios for improvement. These scenarios
will be explored in greater detail in future phases of the master
plan.
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Summary of Major Findings
Assets and Services
UIC has a total of 41 parking lots with 11,944 parking spaces
in the east and west campuses combined.
UIC offers a variety of transportation services, including
Intercampus shuttle buses between the east, west and south
campuses, on-campus paratransit service for persons with
disabilities, the Red Car/Off-Hour Paratransit Service, a
Chauffeur service is also available and commuter buses which
operate between the campus and major commuter train
stations.
The campus is strategically located with several city bus
routes and train services that operate through the heart of
campus.
Campus fleet vehicles include those used for Campus Auto
Rental Service, the campus police, and vehicles used for on-
site operations and maintenance.
Currently, the institution’s motorized fleet emits 0.2 carbon
dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per passenger mile traveled,
achieving one point.
UIC draws hundreds of thousands of business and academic
visitors, special events attendees and patients annually, to
various facilities across campus.
Demand Patterns
Overall, less than 25% of UIC faculty, students and staff who
responded to the UIC Office of Sustainability Commute
Survey, reported that they drive the entire commute to
campus.
A little over half (55.4%) of the survey respondents use one
mode of transportation to commute to UIC and the average
distance traveled is 11 miles.
Approximately 44.6% of the survey respondents use two or
more transportation modes to get to UIC. The average
distance traveled for those using two modes is 20 miles; for
those using three modes, 28 miles.
Close to 38% of faculty and staff reside in zipcodes where the
transit availability is generally ‘excellent’ to ‘good’. Close to
40% reside in areas within the six counties that have
‘excellent’ pedestrian amenities; another 25% or so reside in
areas with ‘good’ values of pedestrian accessibility.
Employees residing in such areas, who are currently solo
drivers to campus, may be considered for incentives,
information and marketing to occasionally use transit to
campus.
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Overall, there are enough ‘spatially clustered’ groups of faculty
and staff to whom transit is not available. Employees in these
spatially clustered groups may be better served with express
buses, vanpools, carpools and other high occupancy modes.
Almost 20% of UIC students live within 2 miles of campus and
about 35% live within 5 miles. In FY2007, 3,109 students
resided in campus housing in the east, south or west sides.
Close to 90% of UIC students have a valid driver’s license and
about 72% have a private vehicle available to them.
More than 60% of UIC U-PASS users are ‘moderate intensity
users’ who ride the transit system between 32 and 106 times
per semester. About 18% are ‘high intensity users’ who ride
the system 106 times per semester. Only 5% of U-PASS
holders are non-users (never used the transit system at all
during a semester).
There has been a 230% decrease in parking permits issued to
students since the implementation of the U-PASS. There has
been a 38% decrease among non-academic employee parking
permits on the east side, whereas on the while there has been
a slight increase on the west side.
Daily parking utilization is approximately 64% (81% west
campus, 50% east campus). The medical community parking
needs affords the university opportunity to allocate parking
space more efficiently. Special events on campus can
generate 100% parking lot utilization in the parking areas close
to the venue.
The number of academic participants in the transit benefit
program has increased 233% while the number of non-
academic participants has increased only 26%.
In terms of schedules, staff and part-time students have the
most predictable schedules. Faculty members tend to be on
campus during the business day with a somewhat varied
schedule, while full-time students have the greatest schedule
variety, with more than 25% stating that their schedules vary
considerably.
STARS Standards
Currently, the institution’s motorized fleet emits 0.2 carbon
dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per passenger mile traveled,
achieving one point. We could achieve 2 points by having no
CO2e per passenger mile traveled (carbon neutral fleet).
Another credit is given for having a specified percentage of the
institution's faculty, staff, and students getting to and from
campus by a means other than single occupancy vehicle for
the majority of their daily trips. Alternatives to single-
occupancy vehicle transportation include walking, bicycling,
van or carpooling, taking public transportation, or riding a
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campus shuttle. Currently, 76% of the campus community gets
to and from campus by alternate means, giving us two points
which is given to an institution that has more than 50% of the
institution’s population primarily using preferable modes of
transportation. We could achieve 3 points if more than 95% of
institution’s population primarily would use preferable modes
of transportation.
UIC does not meet any Tier 1 STARS credits in the grounds
area however it does meet the criteria for several Tier 2 credits
including landscaping with native species, inventorying and
mapping all campus trees and other landscape assets, and
composting yard waste. UIC could achieve more points by
having an Organic Campus and using non-potable water for
irrigation.
Recommendations
On the basis of the findings, the subcommittee makes the following
recommendations:
Recommendations for Transportation
Transportation Demand
There are numerous strategies that can be utilized to increase
sustainable mode use in the UIC campus.
1. Boosting bicycle usage: Given that a large number of
students and many faculty and staff live less than 5 miles from
campus, the possibility of boosting bicycle usage should be
explored. We recommend the following:
Encourage and support a campus Bicycle Advisory
Council to inform and guide bicycle infrastructure and
programs on campus.
Disseminate bicycle-related information more widely:
Like the UIC parking maps, electronic maps of where
bike facilities are located throughout campus are
available. This resource should be made known to UIC
students and staff via the Internet and should be included
in all orientation programs.
Make the federal Bike Benefit program available to the
campus community.
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Expand bicycle programs and amenities: UIC should
investigate the possibility of expanding bike racks at
strategic locations throughout campus, implementing a
bicycle rental/sharing program and increasing lockers
and showers. The Chicago Department of
Transportation’s Bike Program should be leveraged for
this purpose.
Expand bike lane network: UIC should consider
expanding the number of bike lanes near campus.
CMAP’s CMAQ program and the CDOT programs can
be leveraged for this purpose.
Develop and adopt a Bicycle Plan for campus,
integrating it with the City of Chicago Bike Plan and the
UIC Master Plan.
Develop secure, destination-oriented bicycle parking
areas on campus to mitigate theft. Opportunities for grant
funding should be pursued.
Experiment with advanced technologies to boost user
confidence with the bike mode: The work being
conducted by the CTS IGERT and UTC on advanced
technologies for non-motorized transportation, including
routing based on the user’s safety and security
preferences may be undertaken as a demonstration
project to boost bicycle usage and to encourage a far
greater number of individuals to use these modes of
transportation to and around campus.
2. Promote and expand UIC Transportation Benefit Program:
The Transportation Benefit Program is a valuable resource
offered to employees of the UIC. Under the Internal Revenue
Service Code, it allows benefits eligible employees to realize
income tax saving by paying for commuting expenses with pre-
tax dollars.
Currently, the program operates by deducting monthly a pre-
selected amount from the employee’s paycheck for “qualified
transportation expenses.” This resource also serves the
University by saving on payroll taxes.
In 2003, the ‘UIC Transit Check User Survey’ was conducted,
which outlined the positives and negatives which enrolled
employees who completed the survey perceived to be
associated with the program.
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As of 2009, the Transportation Benefit Program reports 1005
University employees listed as enrolled in the program.
As of March 2009, the new federal stimulus package has
increased the maximum benefit for the program from $120 to
$230 per employee. There is also a bicycle transit benefit
available for up to $20 per employee. We recommend:
Expanding the program to the new limit of $230.
Expanding the program by increasing the number of
price points (currently $30, $50, $65, $75 or $120).
Allow pre-tax program participants to utilize the benefit
for more than one transportation provider. (E.g. one
voucher for CTA and one voucher for Metra).
Implementing the bicycle transit benefit program.
Updating and redistributing a Transit Check User Survey
to assess current strengths and weaknesses of the
program.
Promoting awareness of the program through print ads in
the UIC Flame newspaper, flyers, listserv messages, etc.
Hosting information sessions at UIC
orientations/independent transportation information
sessions to increase education and enrollment
3. Transit stops and amenities: The quality of transit stops can
greatly improve or deter the propensity to use transit. We
recommend:
The quality, surroundings, access paths, lighting and
safety of transit amenities and stops should be improved,
so that UIC faculty, staff and students are comfortable
with transit at all times.
The UIC Halsted CTA station could be used as a
demonstration of a Passenger Mobility Hub, with
concessions, better waiting area conditions, bike
rental/sharing possibilities, better lighting and as a hub
for shuttle buses, CTA buses and taxis.
Security and patrolling of transit stops should be
improved.
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4. Alternatives to air travel: This is a market that has to be
carefully segmented – most likely by trip distance. We
recommend:
Faculty and staff should be encouraged to substitute
driving their conventional vehicles or flying to short
distance destinations, such as to Springfield, IL or other
Midwest locations. Hybrid rental vehicles, AMTRAK,
Greyhound or MegaBus, may substitute these trips.
A comprehensive review of the policies and practices
that enable videoconferencing and promotion of
videoconferencing to the campus community
Evaluate the costs of teleconferencing for participants
(such as long distance toll charges) and explore
opportunities to increase usage. Promote
teleconferencing to the campus community.
5. Education and Outreach: In providing an outlet for faculty and
staff to become informed on transit benefits and alternatives,
UIC can insure that its employees will be more inclined to
choose a sustainable transportation mode in making their
commute to work and in other parts of their daily lives. We
recommend:
Host a table at the UIC Employee Benefits Fair,
incorporating representatives from PACE, Metra, CTA
and UIC.
Hold quarterly UIC-sponsored information sessions for
employee education.
Institute regular mailings, flyers, posters to be posted and
distributed on campus and to UIC employees homes.
Provide free trial transit passes to encourage ridership.
Create comprehensive transportation website with
information regarding alternative transit resources (i.e.,
cost calculator, trip planner, rideshare info, etc.)
6. Ride-sharing: Many UIC employees and students already
informally carpool with neighbors also working in or near UIC or
colleagues who live close by or along the way. This concept
may be broadened to a wider group of UIC employees, who
may not personally know anyone living nearby or along the
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way, who wishes to carpool to UIC. A more formal approach,
using ridematching, is ridesharing. Ridematching is a
computerized service that allows commuters find other
commuters who want to start or join a carpool or vanpool.
Ridematching programs have proven to be a successful
method of reducing carbon footprints, as well as easing the
stresses of commuting to work for employees in both
educational institutions and other work environments. We
recommend that the following services be explored for the UIC
community:
Promote existing rideshare opportunities, such as the
program provided by Pace, as an interim rideshare
program.
Ridematching as an online service: By creating a
comprehensive ridematching website and survey, UIC
can offer consistency, flexibility and security to its
employees. The system can connect UIC faculty/staff to
carpooling possibilities in their communities. Ridematch
21 is a Chicago-based system and GoLoCo is a national
system that has been successful in generating carpools.
A key reason why many individuals are hesitant to use
ridematched carpools is that they may have to share a
ride with complete strangers who they may not be
comfortable with. A possibility to ensure confidence in
the system is to have employees screen those with
whom they would agree to share a ride.
Real-time, dynamic ridematching systems using wireless
technologies: As a long-term strategy, a demonstration
project should be attempted to operationalize real-time,
dynamic Ridematching systems using Personal Digital
Assistants, cell phones and other mobile devices, using
Mobile Ad-Hoc Network Technology and other
technologies using peer-to-peer systems and wireless
communications methods. Such technologies are being
experimented with as a part of the Computation
Transportation Science IGERT Ph.D. program. Again the
issue of having a trusted entity operating the system
would entail that users are given an opportunity to opt-in
and that potential ride-sharers are agreeable to the
individual seeking a ride. Social networks may be utilized
to fully implement such technologies. A full-scale
demonstration project could position UIC in the lead as
supporters of innovative technology that attempts to
“make it easy” for commuters to use sustainable, higher-
occupancy modes of transportation.
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Occasional Ride Program: The Occasional Ride Program
is one that allows faculty, staff and students to
occasionally have access to preferred parking on
campus, in exchange that they agree to find alternative,
sustainable options as their primary mode of
transportation. This program allows flexibility for
individuals and promotes mass transit ridership.
For subscribers of the Occasional Ride program, we
recommend:
1. Create preferred parking for occasional
users.
2. Provide parking cashouts for members
who use alternative transportation
modes.
3. Increase parking pass and daily user
costs.
4. Provide priority parking for car and van
pools.
7. Guaranteed Ride Home programs: In addition to security
issues that deter individuals from using carpools and the like,
the question of how employees would get back home in the
event of an emergency is another major deterrent. Guaranteed
Ride Home (otherwise known as GRH) provides commuters
who regularly vanpool, carpool, bike, walk, or take transit with a
reliable ride home when unexpected emergencies arises. We
recommend the following:
Immediate Seek CMAQ funds: UIC should explore the
possibility of obtaining funds for the GRH from the
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAP),
a federally funded program that is operated in
Northeastern Illinois by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency
(CMAP).
Terms of usage: UIC commuters should be able to use
GRH for personal emergencies and unscheduled
overtime up to four times per year or up to $100 per year.
Price and fee structure: The ride home by cab, rental car,
bus or train is free (excluding gratuity, fuel and insurance
charges).
8. Evaluate the Role of UIC Parking Services. Since Parking
Services is a self-supporting enterprise, any revenue it makes
must be reinvested in the parking lot enterprise. Further, it
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cannot receive university support to manage other programs,
such as the transit benefit program. Parking Services is in the
process of reviewing agencies, including the Fringe Benefit
Management company in order to outsource this program
which costs more than $60,000/year to administer. We
recommend:
Relieving Parking Services of the management of the
Transit Benefit program.
9. Travel training to faculty/staff and students: The above
items provide passive and un-customized travel information to
potential users. Transit agencies around the country have
started programs by means of which prospective transit riders,
who meet certain criteria, are given training and hands-on
experience with the transit alternatives in a region. Such an
approach should be undertaken in UIC, to provide incentives
and to “break the ice” with respect to travel alternatives. We
recommend:
Developing a travel training flyer for orientations and for
use as campus resource.
New faculty, staff and students may be given a packet of
information on transportation options in the region and on
campus, as a part of orientation. This information should
be disseminated at campus benefits fairs and other
appropriate venues.
Interested employees and students may be imparted
hands-on transit use training, from tickets options that
may be availed of, to planning trips online and actually
boarding and disembarking from transit vehicles. Similar
programs may be provided about how car-sharing
programs or bike rental works. Training may also be
provided to use the proposed online resources, in order
to maximize the use of alternative methods of
transportation.
10. Aggressively seek federal/state grant money: Numerous
federal and state funds exist which can be used specifically and
broadly to implement transportation initiatives for the university.
With the new administration’s focus on the importance of
sustainability, institutions like UIC can expect to see more mass
transit-friendly initiatives, which the University can take
advantage of to fund innovative and sustainable transportation
alternatives.
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Additionally, monies that are in existence may currently be
under-realized. In this respect, the University should seek to
more diligently pursue funds that can offset the cost of
implementing many of our prescribed recommendations. We
recommend:
Actively and consistently seek out and apply for federal
and regional (PACE/Metra/CTA/IDOT) funding
assistance opportunities
Use grant monies to fund the hiring of a transportation
coordinator to manage further transit alternative
initiatives
11. Specialized bus service: There are several neighborhoods
where there are enough UIC faculty and staff residents who
may be willing to commute to campus using specialized,
limited-stop bus service. Coordination with CTA or Pace will be
needed for this purpose. We recommend that the following
services be investigated for UIC faculty, students and staff:
Express bus, with limited or no stops between the pick-
up point and drop off-point, is one such service. For UIC
employees who reside in low-income neighborhoods, the
Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program
administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) can be leveraged.
This program requires a 50% match. Other governmental
funding sources may also be used.
Another alternative is subscription bus service.
Subscription bus services are developed when a special
need arises. Most subscription service is organized by
private groups, often in the face of restrictive regulatory,
legal and institutional constraints. Subscription routes
usually operate only during the morning and afternoon
rush periods, and have limited, if any, stops. Pace
Suburban Bus operates subscription services with
subscription fares which are $3.00 one way, and a $110
monthly pass.
Initiate or continue discussion with CTA regarding
opportunities to increase service and/or reduce cost.
12. Shuttle Bus and Red Car services: The CTA Bus Tracker
system has improved the quality of the bus rider’s experience.
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Similar technologies may be attempted for the Shuttle Bus and
Red Car service. We recommend:
Analysis of shuttle routing to maximize efficiency and
service.
A system using GPS devices be used to track the
locations of the UIC shuttle buses and red car services.
Information on arrival times may be disseminated via the
internet, users’ PDAs, kiosks throughout campus and at
Wi-Fi hotspots.
13. Parking pricing: Subsidized employer parking is said to be
one of the major reasons why Travel Demand Management
strategies continue to fail. We define “subsidized” as the
practice of charging below the market rate for parking. There is
a great difference between the Chicago market rate for parking
and UIC rate for parking; the lower cost of parking at UIC is
interference in the market and the result is lost revenue; the
artificially low parking prices are a subsidy for parking which is
not extended to other transit modes. The discrepancy between
the subsidy allotted to parking and transit use should be
eliminated; “level the playing field” so to speak, for parity
between transportation modes and to allow market forces to
function. The subcommittee understands that increasing
parking fees may be politically difficult and inequitable in some
cases. We recommend that:
Credits should be given to hybrid vehicle users, other
alternative fuel vehicle users and carpool users.
Increasing parking pricing should be considered a long-
term, gradually-initiated policy.
The campus may experiment with a variable parking
scheme. For prepaid parking users, an income-based
approach may be considered. For visitors, a time-of-day
scheme may be utilized.
However, the above strategies are unlikely to lead to
user acceptance unless many of the travel options
recommended in this report are followed.
Revenues raised from increased parking price may be
firewalled into a Transportation and Grounds Fund, to
support a variety of activities that would initiate improved
sustainability conditions.
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Evaluate Parking Operations for both scale and scope of
practice and revenue sources, considering the
opportunity to include and fund functions such as secure
bike parking as well as the improved environmentally
friendliness of parking lots and stormwater management
techniques.
14. An Ozone Action Day is declared when weather conditions
are likely to combine with pollution emissions to form high
levels of ozone near the ground that may cause harmful health
effects. People and businesses should take action to reduce
emissions of ozone-causing pollutants. We recommend that
UIC participate in an Ozone Action Day awareness campaign
for summer 2009 by:
Posting an e-mail alert of an Ozone Action Day via UIC
announcements and/or on UIC's home page (usually the
EPA releases the announcement the day before).
Incorporating a web page that discusses Ozone Action
Days and what readers can do to reduce ground-level
ozone (e.g., taking transit, combine errands, etc.)
Participating in and announcing Partners for Clean Air
events around the region (e.g., every year PCA has had
a campaign to win a Prius hybrid in their "Green Pays on
Green Days" program).
Spearheading a campus campaign to reduce ground-
level ozone. This could incorporate all the
recommendations put forth in Sustainable Transportation
and Grounds report, but focused within a summer
timeframe (when Ozone Action Days typically occur).
15. Telecommuting and Compressed Work Week programs
reduce traffic congestion and impact air quality while improving
the productivity and morale of participating employees. These
programs can also be harnessed to conserve space and
reduce overhead costs. We recommend that UIC Human
Resources adopt a telecommute/compressed work week/flex-
time program and assess the results:
Identify units or departments that can effectively and
efficiently implement telecommuting or compressed work
week programs.
Develop a policy that supports and encourages these
strategies.
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Implement and monitor the program in terms of
environmental impacts including trip reduction and
survey program participants regarding morale.
Energy and Vehicles
By participating in the Illinois Clean Fleet Program, UIC has moved
toward alternative, lower carbon emitting vehicles in the campus fleet.
There are opportunities to improve the efficiency of shuttle and bus
service on campus. We recommend:
Based on analyses made by the Campus Master
Planning consultants, more direct routing of buses
should be implemented.
Engage the CTA in discussions as to whether there are
opportunities to provide services to the entire campus
community in more economical ways by utilizing and
expanding on their existing bus routes.
Continue to phase in hybrids and vehicles with higher
fuel economy for the campus fleet.
Evaluate whether car-sharing options such as I-Go or
Zipcar could be utilized for campus travel purposes.
Recommendations for Grounds
An important and often overlooked forest resource in Illinois is the
State's urban and community forests. These are the trees and related
natural resources found in the State's 2,000 plus communities and
universities. These urban forests provide the environmental benefits
of cooling, storm water and erosion control, and water quality
protection while reducing water consumption in the communities
where over 80 percent of our population lives, works, and plays.
Urban forest are designed to stimulate the general structure and
ecosystem functions of naturally occurring forest communities of the
region, with a composition of species that may not necessarily
replicate the original forest of the area. Urban forestry programs
provide a foundation for enhancing urban forests through clearly
stated policies, procedures, and practices necessary to establish,
protect, maintain, and remove trees and plants on campus.
By implementing an urban forestry program, UIC can educate the
campus community on the benefits of trees, best practices in tree
care, and how collaboration between campuses and their surrounding
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communities results in a healthier and more sustainable environment
for everyone.
Implementation of environmentally sustainable grounds operation
practices is predicated on the campuses ability to measure and
quantify the cost and environmental benefits. Collection of baseline
data and ongoing analysis of this data will facilitate accountability,
identify “hot spots” in grounds operations and provide a method for
identifying and prioritizing future projects.
The objective of the Grounds aspect is to develop an integrated,
ecologically based landscape and open space system that achieves
environmental sustainability by improving grounds operations through
the adoption of an urban forestry program, completion of a campus
tree care plan and tree inventory and educational and outreach
activities. We recommend:
1. Establishment of a Grounds Advisory Committee to assist in
implementing the below listed tree and landscape guidelines.
2. Urban Forestry: Adoption of an urban forestry program, such as
Tree Campus USA that provides essential tools in supporting and
recognizing grounds managers’ efforts, addresses long-term
environmental sustainability and commits annual expenditures for
tree care on campus.
Development of a comprehensive campus tree program to include:
A tree planting and management program to increase the
environmental benefits of cooling, enhanced storm water
management, erosion control and water quality
protection; increased species diversity, and reduced
water consumption and energy expenditure for grounds
maintenance.
Completion of a campus tree care plan and tree
inventory to promote best tree management practices
and educate the next generation of tree stewards. The
completion of the plan will link to other green initiatives
on campus as well as the surrounding community.
Promote the plan to potential partners and funding
sources such as grantors and alumni groups. The
campus tree care plan will provide the framework for
developing the policies, procedures, and practices to
establish, protect, maintain, and remove trees on
campus.
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3. Utilization of the campus grounds as a resource for research,
education and outreach at all levels.
Provide areas for research, education and passive
recreation on campus, such as community gardens.
Create and sustain training and development programs
for the grounds crew and volunteer groups.
Promote outreach and education that heightens public
awareness of the relationship between society and the
natural environment.
Identify and obtain buy-in from campus facilities and
budget administrators for such major projects as storm
water management, use of porous pavements, and
LEED-certified building renovations, that, while beyond
the immediate range of funding and implementation, are
crucial to long-term environmental sustainability.
Implementation of arboriculture practices, such as plant
selection, site preparation, planting and transplanting,
fertilizing, composting, staking, pruning, landscaping, and
tree maintenance and removal.
Implementation of tree protection and preservation
policies, including procedures for new construction
projects; snow removal and salt alternatives; requiring
permeable and reflective surface alternatives in
landscape design; specifying prohibited practices, and
creating and disseminating a strategy to communicate
these policies.
Establishment and maintenance of a digital campus tree
inventory for use in tree management (species selection
and diversity), campus planning, landscape guidelines
and academic and general public events.
Establishment of an annual work plan that tracks and
documents expenditures and evidence that sufficient
funding has been dedicated to the work plan (UIC
dedicates annual funding for full-time employees,
contract labor, and the equipment and supplies used for
tree care.)
4. Sponsor outreach and educational events that engage
community and support long term strategies. We recommend:
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Report to UIC Chancellor’s Committee on Sustainability and Energy
Campus events that celebrate the importance of
environmental stewardship and engage faculty, staff,
alumni, and student volunteer labor (worth an estimated
$18 per hour) to plant trees, shrubs, groundcover, and
flowers; apply mulch; pull weeds; pick up trash; teach,
and reduce costs.
Workshops, lectures, classes, and other learning projects
that generate revenue by charging admission or a
registration fee while providing opportunities to engage
the campus and community in activities that demonstrate
the benefits of trees to the environment (Selling trees
through the National Arbor Day Foundation is another
opportunity to raise funds.)
Assist Project Learning Tree or other programs centered
around trees in training teachers at schools near your
campus or organize training for your school’s College of
Education.
Other tree-related service learning or educational
programs for students.
Partnership with State forestry departments on regional
projects.
Educational projects such as a Nature Explore
Classroom for young children at an early childhood
development center on your campus or in your
community.
Establish campus arboreta.
Create partnerships to manage community natural
resource.
Implement long-term natural resource management in
the State's cities and towns by coordinating internships
with the urban forestry or parks department in your
community.
5. UIC should explore the possibility of obtaining funds for:
Incorporating the development of the quality,
surroundings, access paths, lighting and safety of transit
amenities and stops into a sustainable landscape plan.
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Hold quarterly UIC-sponsored information sessions on
progress of grounds initiatives and for employee
education.
Institute regular mailings, flyers, posters to be posted and
distributed on campus and to UIC employees homes on
impact of landscape to the environment
Hiring of a grounds coordinator to manage sustainable
landscape initiatives
6. Capture stormwater onsite; capturing stormwater onsite is one
way to reduce stormwater flow into Chicago’s combined
stormwater and wastewater sewer system. This water flows to the
Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation District plants where the
combined flow is treated as wastewater. However, when rainfall is
high the plants cannot process all the wastewater at once and it is
stored in the deep tunnel system. If the tunnel system capacity is
exceeded, then the combined stormwater and wastewater is
released untreated into Lake Michigan. We recommend:
Utilize rain barrels or cisterns to capture run-off from
building roofs.
Direct stormwater run-off from low-lying areas, near
driveways or in parking to bioswales and rain gardens.
That also reduces the amount of stormwater that must be
pumped and the energy required to pump it.
Utilize green roofs. The rooftop gardens capture the rain
in their soil reducing the amount of run-off. In addition,
green roofs reduce the heat island effect and insulate the
buildings, reducing the energy needed to heat and cool
them.
Install permeable pavement captures rain where it falls
and should be considered for use in parking lots
whenever feasible.
7. Composting: If composting can be done on-site at UIC, this
provides a rich source of organic material that can be used to
fertilize plantings and flower beds throughout the campus. We
recommend:
Seek opportunities to fund a pilot composting program.
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8. Reduce/eliminate irrigation: The reduction or elimination of
irrigation, by planting species that are most suitable for UIC’s
climate and, perhaps, changing our expectations for how green
the grass needs to be can save both water and the energy
required to pump it. We recommend:
If irrigation must be used, stormwater (or grey water)
applications should be considered.
9. Use native species: As mentioned above, planting species most
suitable for UIC’s climate such as native species reduces the need
for irrigation. It is becoming more and more common both in the
city and on campuses to find plantings that were grown before the
area was developed. In Illinois, these are generally prairie and
woodland (for shaded sites) plants. If managed well, these areas
can be quite beautiful and self-sustaining with very little
maintenance required. We recommend:
Using native species
10. Integrated pest management
“Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective and and
environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that
relies on a combination of common-sense practices. IPM
programs use current, comprehensive information on the life
cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This
information, in combination with available pest control methods, is
used to manage pest damage by the most economical means,
and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the
environment. IPM takes advantage of all appropriate pest
management options including, but not limited to, the judicious
use of pesticides.”
(Source: http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/factsheets/ipm.htm). We
recommend:
UIC should implement an integrated pest management
system:
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