Identifying the challenges to sustainable higher educational institutions commute

Oluwasegun Oluyemi Aluko

doi:10.5935/jetia.v7i28.748

Abstract

The first objective was to understand commuters' regular travel mode. The second objective was to understand the reasons for the regular mode and the preferred alternative when this regular mode was not available. The third was to determine the willingness to change to public transport mode and what concerns commuters had about the mode. A questionnaire survey of workers who commuted daily to Higher Educational Institution (HEI) workplaces located at the city of Ado Ekiti was conducted. This survey collected data on respondents' regular commute mode, alternative commute mode, willingness to use public transport mode and the desired improvement in public transport mode. Commuters' most popular commute mode was private automobile with 67% using this mode regularly. This was followed by a variant of carpooling called joining others (19.4%) and then public transport (13%). The most preferred alternative for all commuters was joining others which 49.6% opted for. The willingness to use public transport was found to be 66.5% with improved public transport vehicles and better driver training identified as necessary for improved uptake of public transport. This paper concludes that the choice of respondents generally underscored the need to improve public transport system as well as encourage its acceptability and use.

Highlights

Higher educational institutions (HEIs) throughout the world are striving to create sustainable campuses with transportation regarded as one area that can play a significant role [1, 2]
It has been shown that substantial percentage of commuters in the two HEIs considered commute by self driving
Commuting is most responsible for peak hour trips and contributes significantly to congestion and air pollution, amidst other issues

Summary

Introduction

Higher educational institutions (HEIs) throughout the world are striving to create sustainable campuses with transportation regarded as one area that can play a significant role [1, 2] This is more so as commuting is said to be the largest single impact such places have on their environment [3]. Automobile dependence is described as being detrimental to both physical health and the environment [4] and requires appropriate management measures, usually transportation demand management (TDM), to mitigate its impacts. Such TDMs include campus transit services, parking policies and other strategies such staggering work/class times, telecommuting to work/class, provision of more housing units within or near campus [5,6]

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Conclusion