Cornell University
OP-21: Support for Sustainable Transportation

Many of the student residence halls include indoor and secure bike storage for building residents only. Students and employees have free access to showers and/or locker rooms at campus athletic and fitness facilities and some other university buildings. These facilities are not provided specifically for bike commuters, but are available to, and do benefit, bike commuters. Cornell Green Building Guidelines include Site Strategy SS-4.2: Encourage Bicycle Use, with Baseline Performance Goals that require site and building access by bicycle, bike accommodations in new access roads, connecting to existing bike lanes and paths, university standard bike racks within specified distance from entrances. High Performance Goals include covered bike parking and interior shower facilities for bike commuters. Installation of bicycle racks is now standard practice with new construction and with major rehabilitation projects.

Registered bicycles can be parked at bike racks or in bike storage areas.

Big Red Bikes is Cornell University's student run bike share program. It is open to all active students and employees who register for the program. The program is partially student funded through the undergraduate Student Assembly and student activity fee. Cornell Facilities Operations provides the remainder of the funding. The bike share fleet includes 40 bicycles that are available from Spring Break in March until Thanksgiving break. Bikes are available at two libraries and a student residence community center. Bike must be returned to one of the three locations. The University Libraries and Campus Life Appel Commons Service Center provide administrative support by checking in/out the bikes, keys and helmets, as well as reporting issues to the student organization. Transportation Services contributes the funding for the vendor hosted bike share management software and helps fund a student employee responsible for maintenance and safety checks. During fiscal year 2012-2013 bikes were checked out over 1,600 times by 742 active users.

The Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) regional transit system (http://www.tcatbus.com/) includes routes that circulate through campus with the frequency of a shuttle, as well as connecting the campus to nearby retail, commercial and residential areas. All university employees can use their Cornell ID to ride buses free, Monday through Friday, within a zone that encompasses the campus, the City of Ithaca and nearby retail areas. TCAT also runs commuter routes through surrounding neighborhoods and communities in Tompkins County and other adjacent counties. Employees who choose to forego a campus parking permit are eligible for the OmniRide program, which allows unlimited travel on any TCAT transit bus within Tompkins County, seven days a week. Employees who live outside the county can also join OmniRide and receive a discounted pass for use on their county’s transit system. http://transportation.fs.cornell.edu/commuting/busservices/employees.cfm Students are provided unlimited no fee access to the entire regional transit system during their first year of matriculation. After the first year, all students retain no fee access to transit at night and on weekends, and they are encouraged to purchase university subsidized Student OmniRide passes that provide unlimited access to all TCAT routes. http://transportation.fs.cornell.edu/commuting/busservices/students.cfm The City of Ithaca, Tompkins County and Cornell University are equal partners in TCAT. In addition, Cornell University is the single largest fare paying customer of TCAT. Total annual university contributions to TCAT exceed $3.4 million annually.

If a personal emergency arises during the workday and an employee need to get to his/her car, home, or to a sick child, the GRT program will get the employee where he/she need to go from 7:30 a.m.–6:00 p.m., Monday–Friday. This service is available only when the university is open and operating normally and is not for weather-related closings or emergencies, unscheduled overtime, or appointments.

Among other support services for commuting alternatives, Cornell contracts with Zimride, Inc. to provide carpool matching for the university community. This service is also extended to the entire Tompkins County community, as well as employees and students of Ithaca College and Tompkins County Community College. As of November 2013, Cornell has over 10,500 users registered with Zimride and over 550 rideposts active in the system. http://www.zimride.com/cornell

Cornell University is purchasing full or partially subsidized memberships for eligible employees and students with Ithaca Carshare. All Cornell employees enrolled in the Omniride program are provided free "Just In Case" memberships. Non-Omniride employees get a discounted rate for Ithaca Carshare membership. All Cornell students are eligible for free or discounted membership as well. Ithaca Carshare is a membership service offering 24/7 self-serve access to fuel efficient cars, minivans, and trucks located in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca Carshare also currently has roaming agreements with thirteen other carshares. Costs vary, but Ithaca Carshare members can drive in many of these cities by paying nothing more than usage fees. Four of the 23 Ithaca Carshare vehicle are located on the Cornell campus. http://www.ithacacarshare.org/

Cornell has 1 EV charging station that is available to staff commuters with two more coming on-line soon. Students do not have access to these charging stations.

Cornell offers a range of flexible work arrangements (http://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/flexible_arrangements.html) including telecommuting, individually negotiated and at the discretion of the supervisor. http://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/flexplace_telecommute.html Cornell also has computing guidelines for telecommuters who need to access Cornell's network and computing resources remotely. http://www.cit.cornell.edu/services/guides/telecommute/ According to survey results, 35% of employees reported telecommuting. Specifically, 16% of full-time, non-exempt employees and 40 percent of full-time, exempt employees. Survey data compiled from the 2012 Sloan Foundation Cornell Employee Survey, and HR Leads.

Cornell offers a range of flexible work arrangements: http://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/flexible_arrangements.html including condensed work week: http://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/compressed_work_week.html In 2011 survey of employees included flex work questions. Of 593 respondents, 40.6% indicated they have benefited from arrangements for consistently flexible work hours, and 3.2% indicated they have used the condensed work week option.

Cornell University, the largest employer in Tompkins County, contributes $200,000 per year to the Tompkins County Affordable Housing Fund to assist people employed in Tompkins County in purchasing proximal housing, that might otherwise be out of reach. In addition, the Campus Planning Office and Cornell Real Estate have begun conceptual phases of planning and seeking funding for university owned housing for grad students and employees at the campus perimeter.

OmniRide Program-- OmniRiders get the benefit of free, unlimited travel on any TCAT transit bus within Tompkins County, seven days a week. OmniRide privileges are accessed with a CU photo ID card at the fare box on TCAT buses. Transit riders who live outside the county can also join OmniRide. They’ll receive a discounted pass for use on their county’s transit system. (The out-of-county transit fee is payroll deducted on a pre-tax basis). Flexible parking options for days the bus won’t work for you include occasional-use parking permits (currently ten permits every four months; limit of 30 permits annually), metered parking, and Parkmobile pay-by-cell parking. Eligible groups can request books of ten one-day parking permits valid in all Perimeter and Outer Tier Parking areas. Groups receive one less book than there are number of members with registered vehicles (a two-person RideShare can request one book of permits every six months). The RideShare parking permit may be used in any group member's car, as long as it is registered with the university.