Dickinson College
OP-18: Support for Sustainable Transportation

Showers are available for bicycle commuters to use at four campus locations; Rector Science Complex, Althouse Hall, Kline Fitness Center and the Durden Athletic Training Center. Rector Science Complex, Kline Fitness Center and the Durden Athletic Training Center also have lockers and bike racks. The Handlebar, our on-campus bicycle co-operative, serves as a workspace for students, faculty, and staff to work on bikes, assist each other with bike maintenance, and learn bike repair skills. Additionally, the Center for Sustainability Education offers long-term indoor winter and summer bike storage annually so that bike owners have a safe place to secure their bike out of the weather. We also offer long-term indoor storage when students study abroad. Outdoor storage is available at bike racks located at all academic and residential buildings. Currently, there are three large covered bike racks and more than ten that use building overhangs as sheltering. Additionally, one of the campus-owned apartments has a secured indoor bike room. More rooms are being identified around campus for further indoor bike storage.

There is short term parking at all occupied buildings on campus. There is not long-term (protected and secured beyond basic bike rack) bicycle storage available within 100 m of all residence halls, but there is covered parking for approximately 100 bikes. There is free, long term, indoor bike storage available for the winter, summer, and during study abroad. See Dickinson's Bike Rack and Resource Map for locations and photos: www.dickinson.edu/biking

We completed a League of American Bicyclists League Certified University application. We received a 'Silver' rating. Additionally, Dickinson's active campus master plan and landscape design guidelines addresses circulation in terms of street types and character, entries, service, parking and accessibility. This includes bicycle and pedestrians plans and policies including infrastructure. Additionally, the Borough of Carlisle and the Carlisle Parks & Recreation Department recently completed a 13.8 mile network of trails for walking, running and biking.

Dickinson College Department of Public Safety administers the College Red Bike Program. Dickinson Red Bikes are available for daily free loan. The 17 red bikes and related safety equipment are for the use of Dickinson College students, their visiting family members, and Dickinson College faculty and staff and their family members. The Red Bikes are checked out over 1,000 times each year in this free loan program. The Dickinson College Center for Sustainability Education also manages over 55 bicycles in their Green Bike Program. Green Bikes are available to faculty, staff, and students for free semester long loan - green bike users are required to provide a $25 refundable deposit. These bikes were rebuilt & refurbished in The Handlebar, our on-campus bicycle co-op. All green bikes come with a helmet and lock for use during the semester. The Green Bike Program began in Summer 2012, and consistently checks out 100% of the fleet every semester.

All Dickinson employees who use any alternative mode(s) of transportation are eligible for the Emergency Ride Home program by registering with our organizational partner, Commuter Services of Pennsylvania.

Dickinson has a ride share and commuter matching program through through Commuter Services of Pennsylvania. Dickinson is an institutional partner. Commuter Services helps commuters find carpool partners (through our confidential ridematching database) and provides advice on successful carpooling.

Dickinson College and Zipcar have teamed up to make cars available to students and employees. The service, which has been proven to reduce emissions, complements Dickinson’s campus-wide commitment to sustainability, while offering students and faculty convenient and cost-effective transportation. The Zipcars are available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are available to all students and staff 18 or older. Gas, insurance, 180 free miles daily and reserved parking are included in the hourly and daily rates. The Zipcars are located on campus.

Dickinson College supports a telecommuting option on a case-by-case basis. Administrators and faculty have the ability to remotely connect to their desktop via a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN allows faculty and staff to work from anywhere outside the office. Most often, this program is used by faculty during the summer months.

The college allows all support staff and administrators of the college to develop flexible schedules that meet the needs of the department and the individual. Flexible scheduling is in effect the day after Commencement through the day before Student Orientation. All flexible work schedules must be approved by the employee’s supervisor and department head in advance of actually working the schedule. Flexible schedules may not be established that exceed the total hours budgeted. Employees may not establish flexible schedules that include working more than 40 hours in a single seven-day workweek. For example, employees may not set up schedules that include working 45 hours in one workweek and 35 hours in the next workweek to make up a full 80-hour pay period. Examples of the types of schedules that may be considered at the request of the employee and approved at the discretion of the supervisor and department head include: Full-time employees who normally work seven hours a day, five days a week, a 35-hour workweek (70-hour two-week pay period), may work a combination of predetermined seven-, eight-, nine- and 10-hour days that equal 70 hours of work over the two-week pay period, which permits the employee to take off one day each week or one day every two weeks. Remember, though, that the total hours worked in any one week cannot exceed 40. Full-time employees who normally work eight hours a day, five days a week (a 40-hour workweek) may work four 10-hour days and take the fifth day off. Or a schedule might be set up, for example, so the employee works a combination of hours that permit the employee to take off every Friday at noon or some other predetermined day at noon. Any other schedule that supervisors and department heads agree to that does not exceed budgeted work hours, that does not exceed working 40 hours in any one seven-day workweek and that is appropriate and reasonable, is acceptable.

Dickinson offers full-time employees a home-buyer program that provides assistance for buying a home in a designated area in downtown Carlisle near the college. Incentives include a ‘forgiveness loan’ of up to $2,000 and a no-interest deferred payment loan of up to $5,000 to help with closing costs and down-payments. These benefits are also available to first-time home-buyers.

In addition to those noted above, Dickinson annually participates in Bike to Work Day.

Dickinson is committed to creating options for sustainable transportation in and around campus. Our Climate Action Task Force has addressed the issue of transportation directly, and created excellent recommendations for pursuit over the next few years. However, Dickinson has already made great progress in the following areas of sustainable transportation including bike share, commuting programs and partnerships, and car share. Given the rural location of our campus, public transportation options are limited.