Student Perceptions Regarding Carpooling
Student responses indicated that they were in favor of carpooling. Less than 10 percent indicated they would never consider carpooling to the NDSU campus (Figure 1) while almost 80 percent of respondents have an open mind towards carpooling. These results show that if an incentive to carpool existed, many students would take advantage.
Figure 1. Students in favor of carpooling (n=801)
A main carpool incentive to guarantee student carpoolers is better parking spots on campus compared to traditional student parking permit holders. If better parking spots were available to students, nearly 70 percent of respondents would consider carpooling (Figure 2). These results show the willingness to arrive at campus near a specific destination. This is likely due to harsh weather conditions throughout much of the traditional school year.
Figure 2. Student willingness to carpool if guaranteed better parking (n=801)
Another incentive for students to carpool to would offer students willing to carpool a discount on their carpooling permit. Almost three-fourths of respondents agreed that a discounted permit would encourage them to carpool (Figure 3). The size of the discount will largely determine the receptiveness of students to this policy. If a discount of 10% or less were offered to carpooling students, nearly 30% of respondents would carpool; whereas, if a discount on a carpooling permit (vs. normal parking permit) of 10-20 percent were offered, more than 65% of students would carpool (Figure 4). The question of cost is very important to students, considering many lack funding due to the cost of higher education.
Figure 3. Students willing to carpool given discounted parking permits (n=801)
Figure 4. Students willingness to carpool at discounted rates (n=801)
A campus shuttle is currently available serving a number of parking lots throughout the NDSU campus. Many students already utilize the shuttle and were asked if they would carpool if shuttle service were available from their parking lot to the rest of campus. Almost 42 percent would consider carpooling if a shuttle was available to them near their respective parking lot (Figure 5). However, almost 30 percent disagreed with carpooling and utilizing the campus shuttle to get to their desired location. Parking further from campus would have an adverse effect on carpooling according to student respondents. Nearly 80 percent of respondents agreed that parking further from campus would discourage them from carpooling while only 9 percent disagreed (Figure 6), saying parking further from campus would not discourage them from carpooling.
Figure 5. Student willingness to carpool if shuttle service was provided (n=801)
Figure 6. Agreement that parking further from campus would discourage carpooling (n=801)
Finally, students were asked which NDSU parking lots they would utilize for carpooling (Figure 7). Lots CF, T and SF were the preferred lots. This is not a surprising result as all three of these lots provide ideal locations for students to get to and from classes and activities throughout the NDSU campus. The dome parking lot was largely considered the worst choice for carpooling among student respondents. Roughly 55 percent of respondents felt the dome lot would not be a good lot for carpooling. This can be attributed to the dome lot's isolated location in relation to the rest of campus. Also, many student comments stemming from the survey were adamant about not allocating the dome lot for carpooling, showing that location of a parking lot in relation to campus should be of greatest importance when implementing a campus wide carpooling policy.
Figure 7. Possible student parking lots for carpooling (n=801)