A Study of Transport Behaviour of Academic Communities

Abstract

An important challenge to achieving sustainable university campuses is ensuring that the academic community makes sustainable transport choices. The objective of this study was to investigate the daily commuting patterns, identify the potential for change, and determine the factors and criteria affecting the transport decisions of academic communities of two universities located in Gdansk, Poland. This paper summarizes the results of trip generation measurements and a comprehensive online survey of 3678 respondents, including the universities’ staff and students. Analysis of survey results revealed clear differences between students and university staff in terms of travel patterns and factors that influence their choices. Staff usually (57%) choose the car for daily commutes with students opting for public transport (59%). The choice of travel mode in particular groups is determined mostly by car availability, trip origin location, and accessibility. The choices also depend on transport user individual requirements such as trip quality, costs, or ecology. With approximately 1400 trips daily per 1000 students, the universities are large traffic generators. Thus, how the staff and students behave determines the effect the universities have on the urban transport system. Understanding the behaviour can help to estimate whether it can be changed and how.