University of California, Santa Cruz
OP-21: Support for Sustainable Transportation

UCSC has contracted with Bikelink.org to provide 24 secure bike lockers in three on-campus locations. Capacity will increase at least 50% during 2014-15 with the installation of more Bikelink.org lockers at new locations at UCSC facilities. While several campus buildings offer shower facilities (Kerr Hall, Baskin Engineering, Communications, Barn G), a Bike Commuter Shower Program is also available at the East Field House at no cost for commuting staff and faculty. Secure interior parking is available to staff at McHenry Library. The campus also features "Bike Fixit Stations" in five on-campus locations and 24 "smart" BikeLink bike lockers in three on-campus locations (for more information visit www.bikelink.org). Additionally, a 19-passenger Bike Shuttle operates between two off-campus locations and the upper area of the Main Campus throughout the regular year, making 26 trips/day during the regular academic period to transport bike commuters 700' vertical feet. The 2,000 acre campus includes 5.9 miles of Class I and Class II bike routes.

More than 260 bike racks provide parking capacity for over 3,300 bikes. The majority of these racks are made by CORA, with a growing number of Lighting Bolt racks (the currently-preferred standard) and a smattering of inverted-U racks. In Fall 2013 24 BikeLink bike lockers were installed in three on-campus locations; another dozen will be installed during Winter 2015.

A Campus Bicycle Plan was adopted in 2008, while a Pedestrian Plan has been in development since 2013. While the 2,000 acre campus is crossed by four roadways and the central campus includes numerous service roads and pedestrian pathways, designated Class I and II bike routes existing primarily between the two campus entrances and the campus core. One of these, the Great Meadow Bike Path, is a Class I path constructed in the 1970s that spans 1.6 miles and climbs approximately 400 feet in elevation—offering beautiful views through the campus grasslands and across Monterey Bay.

The UCSC Bike Library is a student-run program providing students free access to multi-gear mountain bikes on a quarterly basis. 25 bikes are currently available, with participation levels averaging between 70-80%.

UCSC submitted an application during Spring 2014 and was certified by LAB at the Silver level on October 22, 2014.

UCSC TAPS Campus Transit provides Day & Night Shuttles and Disability Van Service on-campus, and late-night downtown Night Owl transit service without any fare to the passenger. UCSC established a service contract with the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District (SCMTD) in 1972, providing every registered student “fare-free” transit access throughout Santa Cruz County. This “fare-free” arrangement was extended to UCSC employees in July 1989. As of 2013-14, the monthly cost of the Student Transit Fee and the Faculty/Staff Bus Pass are $37.25 and $8.75, respectively— compared with the SCMTD’s Monthly Adult Bus Pass cost of $65. Additonally, Faculty/Staff Bus Passes qualify for pre-tax options when paid for through payroll deduction. SCMTD operates six transit routes to the UCSC campus from 6:25am until 12:40am weekdays, and from 7:00am until 11:40pm weekends. Headways range from every 15-minutes to every 5-minutes. Average daily school-term ridership during 2013-14 was 10,488 students and 580 faculty/staff; annual UCSC ridership on SCMTD totaled more than 2.32 million passengers. UCSC’s Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) department operates a variety of other transit services geared toward the student community. These include: Day and Night Shuttles to accommodate intra-campus travel, late-night school-term Night Owl service between the campus and downtown Santa Cruz, a weekday Bike Shuttle, and the Disability Van Service providing paratransit service on-campus. The school-term service schedule spans weekdays from 7:25am until 1:15am, and operates weekends from 6:00pm until 2:45am. Campus Transit ridership exceeded 2.21 million passengers during 2013-14.

The Emergency Ride Home (ERH) is available to all campus commuters participating in the Commuter Vanpool Program or holding a UCSC Carpool parking permit.

UCSC TAPS provides all three: ride-sharing services through Zimride, discounted Carpool parking fees, and subsidized Commuter Vanpools owned and operated by UCSC. 23 Commuter Vanpool routes operating from locations within Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Monterey counties transport more than 250 UCSC commuters each day. The Zimride ride-matching program, intended primarily for occasional trip away from Santa Cruz County, accommodated more than 9,500 UCSC affiliates during the 2013-14 year.

Now in its eighth year, UCSC's contractual arrangement with Zipcar provides eleven on-campus and nine off-campus car-share vehicles available to campus affiliates and the local community. More than 4,000 members have joined since 2006, while school-term utilization consistently exceeds 30%.

Six Level 2 EV charging stations managed by ChargePoint are available to campus commuters and visitors parking at the Core West Parking Structure. Overall utilization has been growing since their activation in Fall 2013.

Telecommuting arrangements are made between staff and their supervisors; no statistics have been kept or collected regarding the number of official telecommuting employees. However, many UCSC staff and faculty conduct a portion of their regular workday or augment their workday with telecommuting work outside their normal work schedule.

Depending on the nature of their work and other issues, an employee may request to work four 10-hour days each week instead of five 8-hour days.

239 on-campus/near-campus units (188 for-sale and 51 rental) are available under the Employee Housing Program. An additional 7 College Provosts and 23 Coordinators of Residential Education (CREs) reside in on-campus units.

Nearly half of UCSC's 16,500 students reside on-campus. Since 1999 a Bike Shuttle—a cutaway bus towing a trailer—provides up to 19 bicyclists per trip a ride up the steep 700-foot hill from Santa Cruz to the UCSC campus. UCSC TAPS conducts Bike Safety classes several times each academic quarter, as well as Bike Light and Bike Helmet Giveaway events and weekly Bike Maintenance workshops.