6. Campus Transit Accommodation
The final section of the survey asked the respondents whether they think more shelters should be placed around campus and whether or not they would be willing to pay a fee per semester to use the MAT services.
6.1 Bus Stop Amenities
Nearly 39 percent indicated they would like to see more heated bus shelters and roughly 31 percent indicated they would like to see more bus shelters all together (Figure 22). NDSU students desired these amenities at 41 and 36 percent, MSUM at 46 and 31 percent, and Concordia at the very low rates of 21 and 26 percent.
Figure 22. Desire for More/Heated Shelters (n=1,380)
6.2 Willingness to Pay for MAT Service
One of the main factors that determine the value of service is whether the customer is willing to pay for that service. Students were asked if they would be willing to pay an activity fee for free, unlimited use of the MAT Bus around campus and the Fargo-Moorhead area (Figure 23). The responses across all campus were one-third for and two-thirds against. Twenty-seven percent of Concordia, 42 percent of MSUM, and 38 percent of NDSU students supported the concept of an activity fee.
Figure 23. Students Willing to Pay Activity Fee (n=1,380)
Students were then asked how much they would be willing to pay on a per semester basis for unlimited use of MAT service (Figure 24). About 46 percent of respondents indicated that they would be willing to pay $10 or more. The majority indicated that they would be willing to pay an activity fee of $5 or $10. The amount students were willing to pay was quite consistent across institutions.
Figure 24. How Much Students are willing to Pay for MAT Service (n=456)
7. Summary
The 2005 Campus Transit Survey provides insight into the attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors of students enrolled at Concordia College, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and North Dakota State University. A number of topics were addressed by the survey including mobility characteristics, MAT service, parking, inter- and intra-campus transportation, and desired services changes.
MAT ridership by North Dakota State University respondents rose from 32 percent in 2003-2004 to 43 percent this academic year. At Concordia and MSUM, the number of students fell from 35 to 27 and 34 to 27 percent respectively.
MSUM students living off-campus reported having the longest commutes. This is likely due to large number of respondents that live in South Fargo. Concordia students indicated the environmentally beneficial aspects of public transportation at much higher rates then those from NDSU or MSUM. North Dakota State University students are more accepting of long walks in adverse weather than those at the other two campuses.
Students at Concordia were happier than those at MSUM or NDSU with regard to both the convenience and affordability of campus parking. At the same time, nearly 60 percent of Concordia respondents reporting parking on the street regularly, as compared with 31 percent of MSUM and 10 percent of NDSU students.
Subsidized taxi service is popular with the students with about a third of the respondents from each campus indicating that they had used the service. There is also strong interest in the Guaranteed Ride Home Program. Eighty-two percent of Concordia, 81 percent of MSUM, and 78 percent of NDSU students said they were or might be interested in the service. Less than a third of MSUM and Concordia respondents knew about MAT's evening service.
There is relatively weak support for an activity fee to support campus transportation. Of those who do support it, fees of $5 $10 are most acceptable. Of the students planning on taking Tri-College courses this year, 44 percent reported that they would and 38 percent that they might consider MAT as their mode of transportation.
Finally, the disproportionately high female response rates at MSUM and Concordia College provides strong motivation for reassessing the sampling methodology to be used in future surveys.