Campus Public Transportation
Students from Concordia may take classes through the Tri-College system which consists of NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia. This section contains questions to determine whether there is a sufficient demand for public transportation to be provided between the three colleges. The first question addresses whether or not students plan on taking Tri-College courses with 28 out of 195 indicating they planned on taking classes. Of those 28, 27 responded that they would be taking Tri-College classes during the daytime. Over 35 percent (10) of the students who indicated that they would be taking Tri-College courses state they would consider taking the MAT bus. Only 28 percent (8) of respondents indicated they would not consider taking the MAT bus, and 35 percent (10) said they would maybe consider taking the MAT bus for their Tri-College classes (Figure 23).
Figure 23. Tri-College Students Who Would Consider Taking the MAT Bus (n=28)
The last question asked the students if they would use a MAT Circulator bus routed around the Concordia and MSUM campus neighborhoods spaced at 15 minute intervals (Figure 24). The higher percentage of students with no responses may be due to the fact that some students have no need to travel between the two campuses.
Figure 24. MAT Circulator Bus between Campuses (n=195)
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.
The first questions asked respondents on whether there should be more shelters or more heated shelters changed slightly when compared to 2003 survey results. Just below 50 percent (95) indicated they would like to see heated bus shelters and only 14 percent (28) indicated they would like to see more bus shelters all together (Figure 25). In the 2003 survey 25 percent of respondents indicated they would like to see more bus shelters on campus, and 40 percent said they would like heated shelters. Those numbers increased by 10 percent on heated shelters and decreased by 11 percent on bus shelters.
Figure 25. Desire for More/Heated Shelters (n=195)
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 26).
Figure 26. Students Willing to Pay Activity Fee (n=195)
Students were then asked how much they would be willing to pay on a per semester basis for unlimited use of MAT services (Figure 27). Just over 50 percent (42) of respondents indicated 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 dollars.
Figure 27. How Much Students are willing to Pay for MAT Service (n=83)
Summary
In summary the survey data collected revealed some key points about Concordia College campus transit needs. A comparison of data from Concordia's 2002-03 and 2003-04 school year transit surveys show an increase in MAT ridership of over 13%. The survey respondents indicated that the main reasons they use MAT services is to get to another campus and shopping. The main reason some do not use the service is because of a preference to drive/walk/bike. Overall value found in public transportation according to the respondents is the service is free and MAT services the FM area. MAT users have been satisfied with current aspects such as taking them where they need to go, the ease of use, cleanliness of the bus, and on time arrival. Students indicated some dissatisfaction with parking convenience but felt that parking was very affordable. Over half of the students surveyed felt that public transportation benefits environmental concerns, aids in traffic congestion, reduces parking demand, and helps to save money. A large percentage of respondents indicated that they lived on campus. The most common reason that students leave campus is to do general shopping as well as grocery shopping. The information and knowledge that is gained by this data will not only help in making transit decisions for today, but also help build a foundation in planning for tomorrow.