Fareeha Molvi braves L.A. traffic several times a week to take the Culver City Bus to work.
“I think (public transportation in L.A.) is OK but I think a lot of people don’t know how to use public transportation. I had to go through a learning process before I figured out how to use it,” said Molvi, a second-year communication studies student.
Statistics show that students and faculty at UCLA are developing a growing interest in the use of public transportation when traveling around Los Angeles, a phenomenon that some attribute to both a growing awareness of the environmental impacts of transportation, and to the relative convenience and affordability of such systems.
Since 2000, the number of UCLA affiliates using various forms of massed and motorless transportation have risen substantially, reflecting a growing consciousness of the environmental and social responsibilities associated with transportation choices.
According to an annual survey of the modes students and faculty use for transportation on and around campus, transportation options that are more environmentally friendly and more compatible with the financial constraints of students appear to be growing in popularity.
Among the significant statistics showing improvement in the survey were public bus ridership, which has increased 2.7 percent, the percentage of students who commute on foot, which has increased 2.8 percent, and the percentage of student commuters who drive alone to campus, which has fallen 4.9 percent since 2000, according to the UCLA Transportation survey.
In general, UCLA affiliates contribute far less to traffic congestion and detrimental environmental effects of transportation than the average commuter in Los Angeles.
Thirty-one percent of UCLA students drive alone to campus, according to the survey.
But in the L.A. region the drive-alone rate is 75 percent, said Renee Fortier, UCLA director of transportation.
“For UCLA employees the drive alone rate is 55 percent,” she added.
In particular, the BruinGo! bus pass system has had a substantial impact on the ways in which students and faculty traverse the city.
UCLA’s major contribution to transit improvements is BruinGo!, which began in 2000, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the UCLA school of public affairs.
In its first year of operation, the share of faculty and staff using the program increased from 9 to 21 percent. He added that the bus pass system has been an especially meaningful benefit to low-wage UCLA employees.
Other major universities in Los Angeles are making efforts to marginalize the carbon footprint left by students and faculty, and to increase the availability of efficient massed transit available to these individuals.
Because many students do not keep personal vehicles at school, programs like Flexcar, a shared-ride program that is also popular on the UCLA campus, have become popular at the University of Southern California, said Lev Vanshelbaum, an alternate commuter coordinator for the USC department of transportation services.
Vanshelbaum noted that USC has made efforts to publicize the Flexcar program, waiving the sign-up fee for students who enrolled in the first month of the program’s promotion.
While the promotion of mass transit programs on the part of universities is largely in the interest of environmental protection and sustainability, students’ motivations seem to be more heavily influenced by the convenience of such programs.
“We have a lot of people who ride the busses and it’s a very good system. When it comes to transportation (in Los Angeles) it’s one of the best options,” said Rodolfo Cortez, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus driver whose route stretches the length of Sunset Boulevard from downtown Los Angeles to west of the 405 Freeway, including trips from downtown to UCLA.
Above all other factors, however, the affordability of public transit seems to be the most convincing to students and faculty.
“You don’t have to work to support a car at UCLA because you have this alternative,” said Shoup. “When you look at the numbers, you’d have to say that it was due to the price, not the environmental concerns of students,” he added with regard to the tremendous increase in ridership of Los Angeles busses following the implementation of the BruinGo! system.
When UCLA Transportation began subsidizing metro passes for students and faculty two years ago, there were 600 pass holders. Since then, the number of individuals who use such passes has increased to 1,300, Fortier said.
Nonetheless, some students and faculty chose to use mass transit options because of personal environmental consciousness and responsibility.
“I have a car readily available, but I still take the bus when I don’t need to use it,” said Joshua Webster, a third-year transfer student. “I guess (I take the bus) out of a civic duty too because if I can take the bus, I probably should take the bus. Everybody (complains) about traffic, and it doesn’t seem like anybody but the people who take the bus or ride their bike do anything about it.”
UCLA Transportation has made efforts to increase the availability of other eco-friendly travel options including the recent institution of a carpool matching program, a recent partnership with UCLA department of cultural and recreational affairs to provide low-cost bicycle lockers and a planned bicycle loaner program, said Fortier, who said she has confidence in the implemented programs.
The willingness of the UCLA student and faculty population will ultimately determine the success of the alternative transportation systems.
“I’m not super conservative and eco-friendly,” Webster said, “but I do take it upon myself to take the individual action.”