University officials have just given Duke students one more reason to leave their cars at home.
A new program is offering free and unlimited bus rides on local and regional transit lines to undergraduate, graduate and professional students, and employees. The “GoPasses” were made available through the Duke Parking and Transportation Services Aug. 1.
The program aims to reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles on campus and is one of the University’s latest efforts to promote sustainability, said Sam Veraldi, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
“Many of the GoPass users are occasional riders,” Veraldi said. “They park on campus a few days a week and drive the remaining days. The combined usage would reduce the single occupancy vehicle use by 1,000. We prefer that ultimately we get to a situation where people would turn in a [parking] permit for a GoPass. We want to motivate people to consider this as an alternative.”
GoPasses are also free to all faculty and staff who have offices on campus or one-half mile from East, West, Central and the Medical campuses. It can be used for rides through Triangle Transit—the bus line that serves Durham, Orange and Wake Counties—Durham Area Transit Authority, the Capital Area Transit in Raleigh and the C-Tran in Cary.
Duke administrators had additional incentives for creating the GoPasses, said junior Chris Brown, Duke Student Government external chief of staff.
“It will increase [students’] access to Durham by giving [them] the opportunity to get anywhere [in the city through] the transportation system,” Brown said.
Describing the partnership as a win-win situation for the Duke community and the public transit system, John Tallmadge, director of commuter resources at Triangle Transit, said the initiative helps Triangle Transit fill empty seats and raise new revenue, but also comes at a reasonable cost to the University.
“Duke will only pay for the GoPass when it’s used and at half price,” Tallmadge said.
Veraldi said he expects the program will cost the University between $125,000 and $150,000, based on data gathered from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University’s bus programs as well as national data. Duke will primarily use the revenue generated from parking permit fees to pay for the bus passes.
Another alternative
Despite low ridership on the Bull City Connector—another free bus service offered to Duke students and locals—the University remains optimistic.
“[The BCC] has only been around for one year. We have had 1,700 students come to Duke knowing that the BCC exists,” Brown said. “We have a lot of work to do to incorporate the BCC into the lives of students, but I don’t think the main target of the GoPass is the undergraduate students because the BCC [covers most student needs] very well. But free access to the entire system will increase the students’ ability to take advantage of what Durham has to offer that’s not necessarily on the route of the BCC.”
University officials are actively advertising the new program, along with the BCC and WeCar—the new campus car-sharing service—all of which are aimed at reducing the number of cars on campus, said Vice President of Human Resources Kyle Cavanaugh.
Reaction to the new GoPasses, however, varies among faculty and students.
Joseph Grieco, professor of political science, said he is pleased that the University is offering the service to faculty and staff, but finds the current route inconvenient.
“I looked into the possibility of commuting the 20 or so miles to campus from my home in southwestern Orange County and determined that while feasible, it would take about 70 to 90 minutes, which is substantially more than my current driving-based commute time of about 35 minutes,” Grieco said.
Sophomore Alston Neville said he would definitely use the GoPass until he got a car on campus, and would then perhaps use it periodically to save on gas.
“You can get tired [of always being] at Duke sometimes, and you may need to branch out,” Neville said.
A growing trend
Duke’s new partnership with local transit lines is not an uncommon practice at universities across the country. Transit systems are collaborating with universities in Illinois, California and elswhere in North Carolina, said David King, general manager at Triangle Transit.
Tallmadge added that Triangle Transit is aims to form relationships with more universities in North Carolina, currently working with North Carolina Central University and Durham Technical Institute to set up similar programs.
Veraldi said he is pleased about Duke’s decision to work with Triangle Transit now and in the future.
“So many areas of the country have had the enjoyment of a nice infrastructure for people to have alternative transportation,” Veraldi said “We’re excited about people using this.”
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