Movement Demands of Students
There are many factors that influence the movement patterns of students. This section details some of the influences and habits that drive some of these patterns. Survey results in this section detail how far students live from campus, the origin of campus bound trips, the times students are on campus, modes of travel, what influences mode of travel, why on-campus students leave, as well as information related to weather changes and transportation. The information that is gathered from these results is helpful in determining what services can be offered that will coincide with normal travel activity of the student body.
Students live at various distances from campus (Figure 3). Approximately 50% of the off-campus students who responded to the survey live at least 2 miles from campus. A more in depth look shows, that a higher percentage of male students live closer to campus when compared to female students (Figure 4).
Figure 3. Distance Students Live from Campus (n=377)
Figure 4. Student Distance from Campus by Gender (n=377)
Above 93 percent of respondents indicated they travel to campus from home (Figure 5). Roughly 5 percent indicated that they travel to campus from their place of work, and the remaining 2 percent travel to campus from child care, shopping, and other locations.
Figure 5. Where Students Depart From to Arrive on Campus (n=377)
The majority of student respondents indicated they are on campus from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. following the normal semester class schedule (Figure 6). The results indicated that most students are on campus from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, with approximately 86 percent indicating they were on campus during this period. A large number of students indicated being on campus, nearly 76 percent, from twelve o'clock noon to 2 p.m.
Figure 6. Times When Students are on Campus (n=377)
Approximately 91 percent of respondents indicated they have access to motor vehicles. A study done by Independent Insurance Agents of America and College Parents of America showed that nearly 70 percent of college students have either their own or use of their parents' car at school; this places NDSU above the national average by a 21 percent margin.
The majority of NDSU respondents make one trip to school and back equaling two one-way trips (Figure 7). Approximately 47 percent of students indicated that they make 2 one-way trips per day and nearly 35 percent of the respondents indicated that they made 4 one-way trips per day. Almost 10 percent, thirty-nine, of the students had responses indicating they made more than 4 one-way trips per day.
Figure 7. Number of One-Way Trips (n=377)
Students were asked to rate the importance of various factors when deciding on a mode of transportation. The factors included convenience, vehicle expense, parking expense, weather, parking availability, and time. Convenience, time, and parking availability were the top three factors in deciding a mode of transportation (Figure 8). Approximately 93% of respondents felt that convenience was either an important or very important influence on transportation mode choice. Time and parking availability also had a high percentage of respondents indicating important or very important with 84% and 78% respectively.
Figure 8. Factors Influencing Mode of Travel (n=598)
Students were asked how they most frequently travel to campus. Nearly 60% of the respondents indicated they travel to campus via auto. The next most popular form of transportation to campus was walking with 47%, followed by MAT bus with 12%, and bicycling with 11%.
On-campus students were asked why they most often leave campus (Figure 9). Seventy-nine percent responded that they most frequently leave campus to do general shopping, 70% indicated that they leave to do grocery shopping, 62% leave to visit family and/or friends, and 57% of respondents most frequently leave campus to go to restaurants. Other choices the students were given included going to the movie theatre, entertainment (other than movies), and work.
Figure 9. Why On-Campus Students Leave Campus (n=221)
If a student has a car, he/she can travel any time of the year regardless of the outdoor temperature. Results show that more than 29 percent of students choose their mode of travel based on the weather (Figure 10).
Figure 10. Weather Influences Mode of Travel in Winter (n=598)
Students were asked what distance is too far to walk to campus at different temperatures. Weather had a large influence on walking distance (Figure 11). It is easy to see the difference in reasonable walking distance when related to temperatures. As the figure shows, over 65 percent believe that walking less than ¼ mile when temperatures are below freezing is too far.
Figure 11. Reasonable Walking Distance by Temperature (n=598)