Bicycling is encouraged with easily accessible bike rack
Transportation Demand Management (TDMP) is a program of Transportation and Mail Services Department. In 1990, Cornell University undertook a major campus planning effort. The realization was that demand for parking could eventually outstrip the ability of the university's infrastructure to handle it. Planners studied the choices and concluded that unless parking demand was mitigated, the university would have to build as many as 2,500 additional parking spaces - 1,200 of those, by necessity, in a parking garage. Therefore, the primary goal of TDMP is to reduce commuter demand for parking spaces by providing efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternatives to commuting via single-occupancy, personal vehicles (SOVs). TDMP concentrates on faculty and staff at the university, because it was their commuting habits that could be most impacted, and as a group, students own or operate far fewer vehicles than do employees.
TDMP employee commuting options :
- Individual Parking Permits - the campus parking system has been restructured into six tiers. As one gets closer to the central campus, the fees for parking permits increase. The new rate structure is intended to help alleviate some of the overcrowding in central campus, make better use of underutilized parking areas, and encourage more carpooling and use of public transit.
- OmniRide - By securing the cooperation of city, county, and other municipal bus services, Cornell has been able to offer its employees partially- or fully-subsidized transit. Membership in OmniRide allows employees to take any bus in Tompkins County to any place at any time, and Cornell pays the fare. OmniRiders also receive ten one-day parking permits every six months, in case they occasionally need to bring a car to campus.
- RideShare - RideShare provides incentives for carpooling with other Cornell employees with a fee and rebate structure.
- Occasional Parker - This program allows employees who don't participate in other programs - because they are dropped off on campus by someone who is not an employee, or because they walk or bicycle to campus everyday- to park on campus 10 days every 6 months for free.
- Park-and-Rides - Cooperation with surrounding municipalities has encouraged the creation of Park-and-Ride lots that can be used by OmniRiders or where RideShare groups can meet.
Transportation and Mail Services offers support services, such as Red Runner and CU Lift , which minimize the need to bring cars to campus.
For more detailed information on the range of services provided by the TDMP, visit the Cornell University Commuter and Parking Services.
Beneficial Impacts of Program:
Campus congestion
- Within a year of its inception, the number of parking permits issued declined by 25%, and ride sharing increased by 10%.
- Combined with a municipal residential parking permit system in surrounding neighborhoods, TDMP has truly reduced traffic to, through, and around the Cornell Campus.
- On average approximately one third of faculty and staff participate in the Transportation Demand Management Programs.
- Cornell University commuters travel approximately 10 million fewer miles per year, and consume 417,000 fewer gallons of fuel. This reduces emissions by approximately, 6.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2); 600,000 pounds of carbon monoxide (CO); 35,000 pounds of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) ; and, 60,000 pounds of hydrocarbons
- A less stressful commute is provided for everyone - either because they are participating in a transit or carpool program, driving in reduced traffic, or both.
- Since the TDMP's inception, the university has benefited from a net savings of around $40 million- costs which would have been incurred in the form of construction, debt service, and maintenance of the additional parking spaces.
Highlights of Awards Won:
- National Awards
United States Environmental Protection Agency
1996 Transportation Partners Way To Go! Award
Innovative Uses of Market Incentives category - United States Department of Energy
1992 Energy Savings Awards - Renew America
1994 Award for Environmental Sustainability
Transportation Efficiency category - State Award
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
1996 Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention
Not-for-profit category - National Award
Best Workplace for Commuters
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation 2004 to present
For more information, check out the web sites in the sidebar above, or contact David Lieb, Transportation and Mail Services at djl5@cornell.edu.
Related Article:
CU designated by government as a 'Best Workplace for Commuters'
08/26/04 Source: Cornell Chronicle
