6% decrease in single-occupancy commuting rate per campus by 2028
Eighty-one percent of trips to and from UW’s Seattle campus are transit, biking, walking or rideshare trips, or telecommuting; the other 19% are driving alone. Reducing the campus drive-alone rate reduces emissions and other impacts, but also increases accessibility for those moving around the community. Led by Transportation Services and in alignment with State of Washington Commuter Trip Reduction law and the Campus Master Plan, UW will continue to reduce drive-alone commutes.
Status updates
FY 2022 progress
Target actions for FY22
- Encouraging sustainable transportation options and telework post COVID-19
- Evaluate expansion and demand of daily parking options
- Promote U-CAR and UW Shuttle service for mid-day travel
Encouraging sustainable transportation options and telework post COVID-19
The U-PASS program provides Husky Card holders with unlimited rides on regional transit systems. Most students on the Seattle and Tacoma campuses are automatically part of the program, and Bothell students can opt-in. The student U-PASS was temporarily suspended for the 2020-2021 school year when most classes were remote, but was reinstated for 2021-2022.
In Spring 2022, the UW updated the Transportation Services funding model to move employee transit costs to the central University benefits fund, allowing the institution to provide a fully-subsidized U-PASS for all faculty and staff starting in FY23. This provides easy access to public transportation options for nearly all UW employees.
UW Transportation Services monitors transit recovery on a monthly basis, reporting to the University Transportation Committee at each meeting. The UW has advocated for increased transit service levels through the East Link and North Link public review processes as a member of the process review board.
Transportation Services also received permits to build three new bike houses on the Seattle campus, expanding the parking and support infrastructure to encourage bike commutes.
Evaluate expansion and demand of daily parking options
New gate arms were installed at the South Campus Garage on the Seattle campus to allow pay-per-use parking implementation in FY23, expanding the number of pay-per-use options, which is a best practice for parking management to reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips and maximizing parking space utilization.
Transportation Services continues to review parking demand at all three campuses to determine how best to implement daily parking options.
Promote U-CAR and UW Shuttle service for mid-day travel
Transportation Services implemented improved routing of the shuttles to better service UW Medical Center - Montlake patients and employees. They are also reviewing U-CAR key management software vendors for implementation in FY23 to improve the customer experience.