Transportation Services Helps Keep Campus Green, Launches Initiative to Garner Campus Feedback

Students, staff and faculty utilize campus shuttles managed by Transportation Services. Photo credit: Rhett Miller

The University of California, San Diego is ranked among Sierra Magazine’s top three “coolest schools” for going green, and Transportation Services has played an important and ongoing role in helping to make UC San Diego sustainable, while keeping the bustling campus moving.

  Since 2000, the percentage of campus commuters using alternative transportation has increased from 34 percent to an impressive 58 percent. The department manages essential campus services including the Bus Zone program, campus shuttle services, alternative transportation and parking. UC San Diego Transportation Services is completely self-supporting and receives no state funding for services.

The Greenline, a shuttle run entirely on biodiesel, is one of many alternative transportation options on campus.

“Transportation Services has played a significant role in transforming UC San Diego into an award-winning campus for sustainability,” said Russell Thackston, assistant vice chancellor for Auxiliary and Plant Services.

With the shift in usage of alternative transportation over the past decade and more public transportation options, including the light rail transit service slated for the future, Transportation Services will soon be embarking on an initiative to garner input from the campus community on how the department can best meet the needs of faculty, staff and students.

Thackston continued: “Transportation Services is committed to providing a high level of service to our customers—the campus community. In the coming months, we will be eliciting input from faculty, staff and students to help us develop an environmentally and financially sustainable plan for the future which will best meet the access and transportation needs of the campus and community members.”

UC San Diego Transportation Services supports the academic, medical, research and public service mission of the university by facilitating access to the campus and medical centers for the campus and local community.  For more information about Transportation Services and the programs it offers, please click here.