Duke looks to encourage alternative transportation

The future of transportation on campus will see fewer parking lots and decks constructed. The University is looking to increase sustainability and efficiency with the Bull City Connector and programs such as Duke Bikes.
The future of transportation on campus will see fewer parking lots and decks constructed. The University is looking to increase sustainability and efficiency with the Bull City Connector and programs such as Duke Bikes.

The wheels are turning on transportation reform.

Transportation Demand Coordinator Brian Williams discussed the future of alternative transportation on campus as well as its relationship with residential life at the Campus Council meeting Thursday.

“Duke as a whole is moving in the direction of alternative transportation,” Williams said. “The idea that we’re going to continue to build [parking] lots and decks is just not going to happen. All the money is going into alternative transportation—this might sound grim and a little bit shocking, but it’s the truth.”

Williams said his goal is to reduce the time students spend in cars and instead encourage transportation by bus or bicycle. He also described some of the initiatives his office will be putting in place in the future, such as increasing the number of ZipCars on campus and reducing or potentially eliminating freshman parking privileges on East Campus.

“The idea is not to punish,” he said. “[However,] everything on campus is moving towards living more sustainably. If we can get freshmen to live and experience how to live without a car, we’ll hopefully set some patterns for the their time at Duke.”

The council expressed the most concern over busing, especially on Central Campus. Williams called Central the “biggest issue” and said his office is looking to reexamine the routes and their efficiency. He also said he has a team trying to get DuTrack back up and running, after its success this summer.

Sustainability and efficiency are priorities, but a shift to public transportation will also require a challenging cultural adjustment, Williams said.

“Like with any university, the people in charge legally are worried anytime anyone goes off campus,” he said. “I think there’s been a struggle over the year, but I think that’s changing as we move toward being more sustainable. Hopefully that sort of barrier changes.”

Williams applauded existing initiatives like the Duke Bikes program and the Bull City Connector. Duke Bikes is currently at 100 percent usage, even after the purchase of 60 additional bikes this academic year. He said he would like to see more students use the Bull City Connector, a bus route which links the University to downtown Durham, but noted that low student usage is the result of poor marketing. Efforts to promote the Bull City Connector to the student body will be increased in the next year, he added.

And although all of these changes are going to happen at a “very fast pace,” Williams acknowledged the important long-term impact of alternative transportation.

“I can’t think of a university that’s not moving toward more sustainable transportation,” Williams said. “From a [Duke] standpoint, not everybody’s going to stay here in Durham—everyone’s going all over the place. Wherever they go, it’s going to be really important that [students] know these things and see why they’re important.”

In other business:

Deck the Plaza is Thursday, Dec. 9, said junior Mallory Contois, an at-large member of the council. The event will feature a capella performances by various student groups, including the Pitchforks.

The reverse-vending machine is set to be shipped to the University by the end of next week, said Facilities and Services Chair Douglas Hanna, a sophomore. The machine will be installed in Wannamaker Dormitory and will return various prizes for recycled aluminum cans.

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