Sustainable Transportation

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, Sustainable Transportation partnered up with UC Irvine's Bike Shop, ZipCar & OCTA and showed cased the alternative modes to UC Irvine for not only the campus but the community at large. ZipCar displayed one of their vehicles that are currently on the campus, the Bike Shop displayed their products as well as raffled off a bike and OCTA registered participants for Bike to Work week.

Sustainable transportation gave away 2 Magna bikes, 100 miniature trees, 100 reusable shopping bags, 5 solar flashlights and 150 B.E.E.P. t-shirts. (Bicycle Education Enforcement Program)

Sustainable Transportation promoted Rideshare week with an email campaign that went out to Sustainable Transportation participants. In conjunction with OCTA, participants pledged that they would rideshare during the week of October 6th-10th for various prizes.

One of our very own participants, Rick Fruchey won a $500 VISA gift card. Parking & Transportation Services wants to congratulate Mr. Fruchey on his win and thanks him for his continued contributions to Sustainable Transportation.

For more information click here to visit the OCTA website.

CELEBRATE UCI - Saturday, April 18 from 9 AM to 5 PM

One Day. One Campus. Many Options. Come to UCI's 31st annual Open House, one of the campus' oldest and most festive traditions. This spring event features games and rides for children, an Earth Day celebration, academic information, classic car show, campus tram tours, Wayzgoose Medieval Faire with food booths, demonstrations, rides, games, 3 stages of entertainment and much more. General campus offices such as Housing, Admissions, and Financial Aid are also open. Everyone Welcome! It's an excellent opportunity to bring family and friends to visit and see what's new with the UCI campus. Join the alumni, staff, faculty, and students as we Celebrate UCI! Events and Parking are FREE. For more information, call UCI at (949) 824-5182 or visit our website at www.uci.edu/celebrate.

To deliver environmentally sustainable transportation to the campus, Parking offers a number of low-cost, low-impact programs for all members of the UCI community. In recognition of Parking's achievement and commitment to sustainability many recent awards have been given.

• 2009 Best Workplaces for Commuters Race to Excellence Silver Award
• 2009 OCTA Share the Ride Challenge Award
• 2009 Perfect 10 - Transportation Category - Sierra Club
• 2009 Environmental Achievement Award - US EPA Region IX
• 2009 Rideshare Diamond Award - OCTA/MTA/VCTC
• 2009 Best Work Places for Commuters - US EPA National Transit Research Center
• 2008 GEELA Award - Climate Change - State of California
• 2008 Clean Air Award - Innovative Transportation Program - SCAQMD
• 2008 Award - Innovation and Collaboration from the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation's Business Accelerator Program for ZotWheels
• 2008 Best Practice Award - TDM Category - UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability
• 2007 Best Practice Award - TDM Category - UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability
• 2007 Best Practice Award - Fleet Category - UC/CSU/CCC Sustainability
• 2004 Mercury Mobility Chairman's Award - OCTA
• 2000 California Team Excellence Award - Bronze Level - CCE
• 1999 Award of Merit – International Parking Institute
• 1997 Quality Cup Award – Rochester Institute of Technology/ USA Today

In the last 2 years, UC Irvine Parking & Transportation has won 3 "Best Practices" Awards from the University of California, California State University, and California Community College Sustainability Conference.

The first award was in the category of Transportation Demand Management, which encompasses efforts to decrease drive-alone commutes and increase involvement in alternative modes of transportation. Specifically, the unit was recognized for its increases in biking and carpools through the Strategic Mobility Program. This program led to a 23% increase in biking through construction of bike paths, installation of more than 500 bike parking spaces (bringing the total to more than 2100), and increased signage/marking along paths. It also gave incentives to carpoolers, resulting in an increase in carpooling. Together, these efforts were instrumental in helping UCI obtain an exceptional Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) of 1.87.

A second award was given in the area of Campus Owned & Operated Transportation for UC Irvine's B100 Campus Shuttle Program. Here, Parking & Transportation Services teamed with Facilities Management/Fleet Services, Environmental Health & Safety and ASUCI to convert the campus shuttle fleet to 100% biofuel. This effort made UCI the first campus in the nation to retrofit its fleet for B100. More importantly, by creating and installing a NOx filter, the program has resulted in real reductions in emissions. When compared to using petro-diesel, the B100 fleet has seen the following reductions:

• Unburned sulfur oxide -86 percent
• Carbon monoxide -39 percent
• Particulate matter -74 percent
• Reactive organic gases -41 percent
• Nitrous oxide -52 percent

The third award was given for UC Irvine's Project Greenlight, a program to decrease ON-campus emissions. This project utilizes commuter parking restrictions (for freshman and sophomores), increased campus shuttle service, optimized traffic signal timing, and Transit Signal Priority to decrease vehicle miles traveled on the campus, thereby reducing related emissions. Project Greenlight results in a savings of 566,280 vehicle trips, 4,312 hours of travel time, 74,000 gallons of fuel, and 330 tons of greenhouse emissions each year.

On October 1, 2008 members of UC Irvine Parking & Transportation were presented with a Clean Air Award at the South Coast Air Quality Management District's 20th Annual Clean Air Awards presentation ceremony.

The Clean Air Awards honor those "who have made a significant contribution to cleaner air through innovation, leadership and personal environmental commitment."

UC Irvine won the award based on 20 years of policies and programs aimed at encouraging people to move from driving alone to alternative forms of transportation.

These efforts have resulted in an Average Vehicle Ridership of 1.87, the highest for any institution of comparable size in Southern California. This, together with UC Irvine's other sustainable efforts, has brought a designation of "Best Workplaces for Commuters" by the EPA.

Each year, the California Governor and the California Environmental Protection Agency recognize "individuals, organizations, and businesses that have demonstrated exceptional leadership and made notable contributions in conserving California's precious resources, protecting and enhancing our environment, and building public-private partnerships." It is the State of California's highest and most prestigious environmental honor.

UC Irvine Parking & Transportation Services was honored to win the 2008 Governor's Economic and Environmental Leadership Award in the area of Climate Change.

Together, UC Irvine's Sustainable Transportation programs eliminate over 39 million vehicle miles traveled, 18,600 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and saves the University more than $21 million each year.

Carpool permits are only $18/month. For 2 people this is $9 each; for 3 people it is $6 each. Better yet, get 4 or more and park for free. We also introduced our Park 4 Free program which allows 4 individuals to carpool to UCIrvine for FREE. Individuals received 2 complementary parking permits per month for those days that they can not carpool together. The carpool permit allows individuals to park in RESERVED spots throughout campus.

On November 13, 2008, Peter the Anteater and the UCI Cheerleading squad joined members of UCI's vanpool community in celebrating a milestone - VPSI's 5000th (and UCI's 21st) vanpool.

To commemorate the event, Irvine Mayor Beth Krom, Tustin Mayor/OCTA Board Member Jerry Amante, Kathryn Higgins of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Associate Vice Chancellor for Administrative and Business Services Paige Macias, and Assistant Director of Parking & Transportation Services Christine Dacanay spoke about their support for vanpooling.

A highlight of the event was hearing from David McCafferty, long-time UCI vanpool rider and driver, who shared how he has benefitted from vanpooling through the years.

Monday, June 9, 2008, OCTA launched the first direct route from the Tustin Metrolink Train Station to UC Irvine (RT 473). Expanding the original Route 470 to cover a direct route on Red Hill (RT 472) and Harvard (RT 473) reaching the UC Irvine Campus. OCTA partnered up with the I-Shuttle (City of Irvine) and now has coverage on four major streets stemming from the Tustin Metrolink Train station.

In addition, Parking & Transportation Services offered $100 rebates to individuals who tried the new shuttle and purchased a monthly pass throughout the summer months.

More information: Route 472 information | Shuttle system map

Last April, Parking & Transportation Services conducted the annual randomized AQMD survey to selected employees on campus. Through the random sampling Parking and Transportation reached a 94% response rate with the help of survey coordinators from selected departments.

UC Irvine, as well as other large employers in the South Coast Air Basin must achieve over a 1.50 AVR each year. Parking & Transportation is proud to announce that over the last 3 years we have maintained an AVR over 1.70. In 2008, we achieved a 1.82 AVR slightly down from our full census in 2006 where we achieved a 1.87. Unfortunately this survey only counts the employee population and does not account for our large student population whom walk, bike and utilize both the ASUCI shuttles and the OCTA U-Pass program.

The survey is mandated by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 2202. This rule was designed to reduce mobile source emissions from employee commuting, thus reducing air pollution. In order to comply with SCAQMD requirements and to protect the University from substantial financial penalties of up to $50,000 per day, we must achieve a 90% response rate on our campus wide survey.