Pre-October conference questions discussions

From Common Energy UVic

Back to the Transportation Working Group page.

Add your questions below after reading the 2006 Audit and draft TDM report. You can consider the info needed for actions and proposals as well.

Contents 1 Resources 2 Questions 2.1 Institutional Transportation 2.2 Active Transportation - Bicycling, walking, skateboarding 2.3 Transit 2.4 SOV 2.5 Relationships with the Municipalities 2.6 Other

[edit] Resources

• UVic Feb 2006 TDM Interim Report

[edit] Questions

[edit] Institutional Transportation

1. In what way can we encourage more bicycle use for daily operations? I.E. ground maintenance, security patrol, building maintenance; all efforts need to be made to reduce the use of vehicles for campus use only.
2. What are the plans for greening the vehicle fleet. How can we encourage the University to use more electric and hybrid vehicles for institutional needs.
3. Would you consider the possibility of making the campus inside the ring completely vehicle free except for electrics and bikes?

[edit] Active Transportation - Bicycling, walking, skateboarding

1. Storage: Where can we put more bicycle lock ups? Are more lock up planned for the McPherson library? How can we increase the secure bicycle storage facilities; as in where can we put them and how can we afford them?
2. Is the bicycle repair Kiosk in operation? Does it have electric charging stations?
3. How can we provide more bicycle repair and maintenance facilities other than the planned Kiosk outside of the SUB? Is there a demand for this?
4. Is a communal bicycle system an option for UVIC? That is, is it possible to have designated UVIC bicycles that can be used free of charge for UVIC students and employees, operated out of the UVSS?
5. What about a 'walk to work day'?
6. The traffic audit points out that more than 50% of people live with reasonable cycling commute distance, yet only 6-8% of the population commutes by bike. How can we encourage this population to switch modes? The psychological barriers are probably as big as the physical.
7. Is the university working with the CRD on their plans to extend cycling routes to 550kms?

[edit] Transit

1. Are service improvements to and from UVIC from Swartz Bay possible on Holidays, Fridays and Sundays?
2. How do we go about pushing for late night bus transit that can reduce cab usage and prevent intoxicated driving? This also includes general transit improvements to prevent overloaded buses in the morning which is common, i.e. more double deckers and more routes.
3. How do we ensure the employee ProPass program continues and how can we raise ridership for this program? i.e. Subsidies for it, increasing parking fees.
4. The TDM summary states that the flexpass did not create the desired effect, as it did not increase alternative transportation. What is the current status of the flexpass program?
5. Besides the implementation of student fees, does the university contribute to the student UPASS?

[edit] SOV

1. Why are our parking fees still so low compared to universities like UBC, SFU, Dalhousie, U of A, UNBC, U of S, even Camoson which is at $560/yr, compared to UVIC’s $252/yr? How can we make serious change to this?
2. How can we lobby for more on campus housing without increasing the amount of (un-needed parking) despite zoning and building by-law requirements?
3. What are the best options to reduce un-needed ring road usage? i.e. a)two way circulation b)new direct connections to parking, or even restricted vehicle usage on ring road to bicycles, transit delivery and special access vehicles.
   1. When calculating carbon neutrality what share of individual ridership should the university bear - 50%? If so, then we may have some easy beyond carbon neutral credits for every person we get out of their car...
4. What are the targets for SOV reduction? Is complete elimination from campus of SOVs a long term goal?
5. It has been explained that the flex pass does not work. One possible reason is that there is free parking along Cedar Hill Cross Road, near the Henderson Recreation Centre. Has the implementation of parking fees, of ticketing of vehicles here ever been considered?
6. How can the retiree/special users pass be discontinued?

[edit] Relationships with the Municipalities

1. It is mentioned in both the 2006 TDM summary and the 2006 audit that the university will help lobby for bike lanes on Henderson. Recently a decision was made by Oak Bay Municipal Council to not have bike lanes. Is the university responding to this?
2. There is a municipal law that there must be 0.5 parking spaces per dormatory or cluster unit. Through the audit, this has proved vastly unnecessary, as few students who live on campus have a vehicle. Has there ever been steps to exempt the university from this bylaw?

[edit] Other

1. One glaring problem with the Traffic Audit is that it is implemented every four years, on two days. In 2006, this two days were incredibly raining, decreasing the amount of foot and bicycle traffic. This is reflected in the audit, as bicycle traffic is 0.25% lower, which is not consistent with the trend. What is the cost of the audit? Has it been considered to try and make the audit more comprehensive, over more days, or more frequent?