THE PROBLEM
Transportation and the related parking issues present several challenges to the Bates community, and to the relationship between the College and the community and world at large which we share with our local and global neighbors. Among these challenges are:
1. Alternative transportation - while efforts have been made to coordinate ride-sharing opportunities for the Bates community, and an effort is underway to provide van-pooling from certain areas of the state, the demographics of Maine in general, and the Lewiston-Auburn area, in particular, limits the available options for those who seek alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle commuting to and from the campus. Those who live beyond the reasonable bounds of walking and/or bicycling distance are hampered by a lack of available public transportation means and are generally forced to commute alone on a daily basis.
2. Parking availability - anyone who drives a vehicle on, near, or around the Bates campus can readily see the problem of parking availability for students, faculty, and staff, as caused by the single-occupancy vehicle commuting described above.. Parking lots with spaces set aside for the various members of the Bates community are full to overflowing with vehicles when classes are in session, parking spaces are at a premium for anybody who seeks to park within a comfortable walk of their destination, visitors are often left without access to any kind of space for parking, and the streets around the campus are clogged with parked vehicles for a radius of sometimes several blocks from the campus center.
3. Fuel consumption - virtually all of the transportation means currently used by Bates faculty, staff, and students are hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles running on gasoline or, to a lesser extent, diesel fuel (both of which, of course, rely on imported foreign crude oil). The above-enumerated transportation issues exacerbate the problems of fuel consumption, pollution, and dependence on foreign oil.
4. Greenhouse Gas Emissions - the recently-completed greenhouse gas emissions inventory by the Bates Environmental Studies Department concluded that the contributions to GGE by transportation accounted for roughly 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions by the college. Of this, commuters (virtually all of which is done by faculty and staff) is estimated to amount to more than 3 million miles per year, consume an estimated 125,000 gallons of fuel, and contribute more than 1400 Metric tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCDE) to the greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, College Fleet vehicles (work vehicles, shuttle vans, and athletic team transportation) are estimated to consume more than 11,000 gallons of fuel per year and contribute more than 100 MTCDE annually to the GGE of the college. It may be important to note that these numbers do not reflect student driving (either between home and campus, or local incidental driving), nor do they reflect what amounts to a fairly extensive use of rented vans.
College Fleet
Bates owns many vehicles that are necessary to accomplish the daily operations of the college, as follows:
15 pickup trucks
12 vans
2 Automobiles
1 truck
In addition to these, there are numerous (approximately 8 at last count) "golf cart" vehicles for on-campus commuting, and additional leased or rented vehicles, as required for athletic team transportation and miscellaneous campus-related activities.
All but one of these vehicles uses gasoline, the burning of which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. An estimate of how many MTCDE were produced by the college fleet was accomplished by examining the total gallons of gasoline purchased annually by Bates. Since 1995, when data are first available, there has been a relatively consistent increase in the amount of gasoline purchased and the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. However, in 1999 there was a significant increase in both gallons bought and gases emitted. The reason for this peak is not known from the available information. In 2000, the greenhouse gas emissions decreased to a level greater than that of 1998, but much less than 1999.
| Fiscal Year |
Gasoline (gallons) |
MTCDE |
| 1995 |
8,095 |
68 |
| 1996 |
7,427 |
63 |
| 1997 |
8,906 |
75 |
| 1998 |
10,239 |
87 |
| 1999 |
12,297 |
104 |
| 2000 |
11,433 |
97 |
Faculty/Staff Commuters
Most members of the Bates College faculty and staff choose to commute by car to campus. The use of public transportation and alternative means of transportation, e.g. carpooling, walking, is low. Since there were no data available for the amount of miles traveled by faculty and staff annually, the total miles traveled was estimated. This approximation was completed by examining zip codes of faculty and staff, calculating the average distance traveled to Bates and estimating the average number of round-trips per week. The results indicate that the average commute is 12 miles daily. The frequency of travel was assumed to be 5 days per week for staff and 3 days per week for faculty. These commuter miles do not account for those individuals who choose to use alternative means of transportation since that information is not available.
The result of this evaluation indicates that greenhouse gas emissions have increased from 1,256 MTCDE in1990 to 1,428 MTCDE in 2000, not surprising since the number of faculty and staff has risen during this time period. As the number of people commuting to and from campus increases, so does the amount of greenhouse gases they produce. The contribution of faculty/staff commuting to the total greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 was 9%. This is not an insignificant amount considering the limited amount of time each day that cars are driven. More accurate data would indicate whether there has also been an increase in the number of people living outside the Lewiston/Auburn area over the period of 1990 to 2000 that would increase greenhouse gas emissions even further.
| Fiscal Year |
Total Faculty |
Miles/Year |
Total Staff |
Miles/Year |
| 1990 |
145 |
542,880 |
513 |
3,201,120 |
| 1991 |
143 |
535,392 |
516 |
3,219,840 |
| 1992 |
158 |
591,552 |
524 |
3,269,760 |
| 1993 |
172 |
643,968 |
531 |
3,313,440 |
| 1994 |
177 |
662,688 |
506 |
3,157,440 |
| 1995 |
175 |
655,200 |
478 |
2,982,720 |
| 1996 |
185 |
692,640 |
482 |
3,007,680 |
| 1997 |
191 |
715,104 |
496 |
3,095,040 |
| 1998 |
191 |
715,104 |
504 |
3,144,960 |
| 1999 |
191 |
715,104 |
529 |
3,300,960 |
| 2000 |
199 |
745,056 |
510 |
3,182,400 |
In addition to the above fuel consumption and GGE contributions due to transportation issues related to the college, Bates people contribute to the general traffic congestion in the vicinity of the college and the surrounding communities. Commuting issues for students, faculty and staff also impact on parking congestion in the campus environment and surrounding neighborhood. Land used for parking within the campus boundaries takes away land that could otherwise be used for buildings, athletic fields, or open green space. Hard surfacing parking areas also contributes to surface runoff and drainage problems, with fluid leaks and spills from parked vehicles adding pollution to water bodies and drainage runoff.
Parking Availability
There are currently approximately 774 allocated parking spaces on campus to accommodate all student, employee and visitor vehicles, plus 90 additional "open" spaces which require no permit stickers for parking. Of the 774 allocated parking spaces, 500 are assigned for student use (to accommodate the 1600 +/- students on campus), 233 are for staff/faculty use (for the 800 +/- employees), and 41 are reserved for visitors. These parking spaces are maintained at considerable expense to the college in terms of land use, repaving, patching, salting/sanding, plowing, sweeping, striping, drainage, etc.
CURRENT STATUS
Bates currently has several ongoing projects and activities related to the transportation/parking issue
1. A community bike program is being proposed by several students who are members of the Environmental Coalition (and although the EC supports the project, it is being undertaken by the students as individuals, and apart from any club or organizational affiliation)
2. A community shuttle van operated by the Student Activities Office provides ride-sharing transportation to several sites within the community, and to special off-campus sites and activities
3. A monthly award is presented to participants in the ride share program
4. The college is in the process of implementing a van-pool/ride share program, primarily for commuters from the Portland area, awaiting only the availability of a State-sponsored van
5. The college annually observes "Commute Another Way Day", encouraging students, faculty and staff to seek alternate means of transportation to and from the campus, other than single-occupancy passenger vehicles.
Bates College created the Alternative Commute Database in January of 2001 in order to help encourage people to carpool, walk, bike and ride the bus. At the same time a monthly $50 prize drawing was established as an incentive to get people to try alternative commuting and to sign up with the database.
At the present time there are 94 people signed up with the program-66 staff and 28 faculty. Of the 94 people listed in the database 83 are actually commuting regularly by alternative means and the other 11 have indicated an interest in carpooling but are waiting for a match. The 66 staff registered with the program constitutes 13% of all the staff at the college while the 28 faculty represent 14% of the total faculty at Bates.
Among the participants who are commuting by alternative means 41 people are carpooling, 37 people are walking, 1 person runs, 8 bicycle and 2 take the bus. Six people within these totals report doing a combination of two modes which accounts for the total of all modes being 6 more than the total of 83 participants.
The Issues
The issues surrounding the transportation/parking problem include:
A. A general lack of participation in ride sharing and/or van pooling by Bates students, faculty, and staff.
B. A general lack of public transportation within the Lewiston/Auburn area, and throughout the Central Maine and State of Maine areas.
C. Operation of Bates fleet vehicles, such as maintenance work vehicles, shuttle vehicles, athletic team transport vehicles, etc.
D. A seemingly common practice of "cross-campus commuting" - students, employees, and even visitors using motor vehicles to travel within the campus confines, even to the extreme, apparently, of driving cars from dorms to classrooms, over to the athletic complex, etc.
Suggested Solutions
Some suggested solutions to alleviate transportation/parking issues at Bates might include:
E. Encourage more wide-spread ride sharing via car pooling, commuting services, continuation of the monthly ride-share prize, reserved or preferred parking for ride-share participants
F. An acquisition and operational policy for Bates fleet vehicles (the shuttle vehicles, sports team vans, work vehicles, etc.)
G. Adopting a policy to aggressively promote more wide-spread usage of bicycles on and around the Bates campus, such as the community bike program, allowing indoor bike storage, more bike racks and better placement of existing racks, etc.
H. Adopting a policy to acquire and use alternative fueled vehicles by and for Bates people (such as bio-fuels, electric vehicles, hybrids, propane vehicles, etc.)
I. Limiting or restricting the number of parking permits issued to control the number of vehicles on campus, thereby reducing the number of parking spaces needed and, hopefully, the number of miles driven to and from campus by faculty, staff and students. Another approach might be to enact GPA requirements for students to obtain parking permits, or to restrict parking permits to upper classes, only, prohibiting first-year students from obtaining permits (as many other colleges do?).
J. Encourage walking or bicycling for employees living nearby, via incentive programs or just a strong publicity effort.
K. Encourage less energy intensive and polluting means of intra-campus travel.
Accomplishments
There have been no real accomplishments to date, as this is a new area of effort.
GOALS
Short term
For the short term (within the current academic year?):
1. An effort should be made to encourage 10% participation in a ride-sharing program by commuting Bates employees. One incentive to encourage such a program may be the implementation of "flex hours" or an adjustable work schedule for employees residing in the same area. Another could be the dedication of reserved "preferred" parking spaces for ride-share or vanpool vehicles.
2. The College should commit to purchasing and/or leasing only alternative-fueled vehicles whenever and wherever practical and feasible. These vehicles could be hybrid-electric, bio-fuel, or propane gas-fueled vehicles. (Electric vehicles that require plugging into the grid to recharge batteries should be avoided because they just transfer the fuel consumption and emissions problems to distant electric generating plants, which may or may not be efficient and/or environmentally benign.)
3. An effort should be made to make available 10 to 15 "community bikes" for students (and others) to share for intra-campus, and short off-campus, transportation, should be endorsed, encouraged, and supported.
4. The college should seek means to discourage and curtail cross-campus commuting, by students, faculty, and staff. The time and energy wasted in starting vehicles, driving across campus, seeking parking, and then walking to a final destination can hardly justify the practice. Additional golf-carts could be acquired, or some means of intra-campus shuttle may be established.
5. The College should actively promote and support the proposed Regional Intermodal Transportation Center to provide convenient public transportation via bus, air, and rail to Bates students and employees, as well as to other residents of Lewiston-Auburn and the surrounding area.
Long term
In the long term (over the next five years), the college should:
1. Expand the community participation in ride-sharing to 25%.
2. Commit to purchasing or leasing 100% alternative- or hybrid-fueled vehicles in the Bates fleet.
3. Eliminate the need for 100 parking spaces by implementing an effective ride-sharing program, and
4. Make 50 community bikes available on campus.
