February 7, 2002
New UW commuter study available
The UW Transportation Office has announced a new study of commuting choices among people who live within two miles of campus. Time Barriers to Alternative Commuting Near the University of Washington is available on the Web.
The office was particularly interested in people who live within two miles of campus, study author Crystal Benjamin said, because this is a distance amenable to alternative modes of transportation. Yet, when the University conducted its latest telephone survey, the results showed about 1,400 faculty, staff and students who live within that distance usually drive alone to campus.
The distribution of people living less than two miles from campus, who usually drive alone is about 32 percent faculty, 29 percent staff and about 39 percent students.
Of the sample that usually drives to campus, 57 percent indicated they did not walk because it takes too much time.
Therefore, the study measured a 1.5 mile distance from a central point on the UW campus to set points around the campus in five different directions and analyzed the differences in commute time among different modes — walking, bicycling, driving alone, and taking the bus — from campus to different locations within the study area.
The reliability of various travel modes (how consistent travel time was from one day to the next) was also considered. In most of the five study cases, Benjamin said, automobile travel times and transit travel times varied greatly between trials. Bicycle and pedestrian travel varied much less between trials.
The study found:
- For distances of 1.5 miles or less, bicycling was often the fastest commute mode compared to automobile, transit, and pedestrian travel. Bicycle travel was comparable to automobile travel in both travel time (as fast or faster in all cases) and reliability (four of five cases show bicycle travel times more consistent than automobile travel times).
- Walking was the most reliable commute mode and in some cases faster than transit when travel time between bus stops and origin/destination is considered.
- During afternoon peak travel, automobile and transit travel times varied substantially, depending on traffic volumes and passenger loads.
Overall, Benjamin said, the study shows that walking is more reliable than driving alone and in some cases faster than taking the bus for distances of 1.5 miles.
The Transportation Office plans to use data from the study to better target a geographic market to the appropriate commute mode and to make substantiated recommendations to improve alternative travel modes.
For detailed information regarding this travel study, visit http://www.washington.edu/commuterservices/. Click on “News and Reports” then on “UPass reports” and finally on “Travel Study.” To receive a hard copy of this publication contact Crystal Benjamin at 206-616-2049.
