Image of students on bikes going around a bike circle.

Transportation

How we get to, from and around campus impacts our sustainability in many important ways:

Climate and Air Quality

  • Emissions from personal and university vehicles produce greenhouse gas emissions and affect air quality.
  • Airplane, rental car, bus, train and other forms of travel also contribute.

Water Quality

  • Runoff from roadways contains pollutants that drain into groundwater and waterways.

Land Use

  • Parking lots and roads displace building sites and landscapes and divert campus resources from other campus needs.

Operating Costs

  • Building and maintaining parking lots and roadways is expensive. Reducing the number of vehicles on campus can help mitigate this cost.

Employer Responsibility

  • Institutions have the unique to opportunity to incentivize or disincentivize their employees and students commute methods to create change.
  • Campuses also have a responsibility to ensure accessibility on and between campuses related to equity and mobility.

 

Sustainability Goals Campus Actions

Sustainability Goals


Campus Fleet
 

  • Acquire more Zero-emission (ZEV) or hybrid vehicles
    • By 2025: 50% of all new light-duty fleet vehicles purchased at each campus will be zero-emission or hybrid
       

Commuting
 

  • Reduce Single-Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) Commutes
    • By 2025: Reduce the percentage of employees and students commuting by SOV by 10% relative to 2015 SOV commute rates.
      • Davis Campus Goal: 49% employees and 97% students using alternative commuting methods by 2025
      • Sacramento Campus Goal: 36% employees and 68% students using alternative commuting methods by 2025
    • By 2050: Have no more than 40% of employees and no more than 30% of all employees and students commute to campus by SOV.
  • Increase Zero-emission Vehicles (ZEVs)
    • By 2025: Have at least 4.5% of commuter vehicles be ZEVs.
    • By 2050: Have at least 30% of commuter vehicles be ZEVs.

Progress Toward Goals


Campus Fleet

UC Davis continues to make strides on the light duty fleet vehicle goal.

  • Davis

    • 44% of all new light-duty fleet vehicles are zero-emission or hybrid

  • Sacramento

    • 77% of all new light-duty fleet vehicles are zero-emission or hybrid


Commuting

UC Davis continues to make strides in its efforts to use alternative transportation and support the use of electric vehicles.

  • Davis

    • 35% of employees are utilizing alternative commuting methods
    • 82% of students are utilizing alternative commuting methods

  • Sacramento

    • 21% of UCD Health employees are utilizing alternative commuting methods
    • 48% of UCD Health students are utilizing alternative commuting methods

 

Campus Actions

Strategies for reducing commute emissions include:

  • Davis
    • Increasing on-campus housing.
    • Expanding programs that support and incentivize the use of sustainable transportation programs (often called “Transportation Demand Management” (TDM) programs).
    • Providing bike rentals, bike repair stations and other cyclist support services throughout campus, including the Bicycle Program.

  • Sacramento

    • The Sacramento campus operates the Med-Transit shuttle service which connects various locations within the campus area and also operates between the Sacramento and Davis campuses.
    • The campus is served by several regional mass transit bus and by the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT) light rail line. The campus provides