Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 69.54
Liaison Mike Versteege
Submission Date June 30, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Alberta
OP-16: Student Commute Modal Split

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.57 / 2.00 Lauren Hall
Sustainability Coordinator
Energy Management and Sustainable Operations
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total percentage of students (graduate and undergraduate) that use more sustainable commuting options as their primary means of transportation:
78.60

A brief description of the method(s) used to gather data about student commuting, including the timeframe for when the analysis was conducted and how a representative sample was reached, if applicable:

OVERVIEW
The 2017 Greenhouse Gas and Commuting survey was distributed to staff, faculty and students across the university's five main campuses in March 2017. Participants reported their primary commuting mode for the course of the year. Distance traveled was determined by a respondent’s forward sortation area — the first three digits of a postal code.

The survey was sent to a statistically representative sample of the university community and data was collected over a period of three weeks. Facilities & Operations worked with the university's Population Research Laboratory and an external contractor on this project.

SAMPLING METHODOLOGY
To determine a sample size, an online sample calculator took into account population size and set the margin of error at 5% with a 95% confidence level. Once sample size was determined, the following measures were taken to ensure that the sample chosen was representative of the university population and the distribution of the three key populations: students, staff, and faculty.

1) When the random sample was drawn, the sample was compared to the total population to ensure that none of the sub-populations were accidentally excluded in the random sample.

2) The random sample was often compared to the population. This was done to determine whether the survey results were representative of the entire population and not skewed to any particular sub-population.

3) Once the survey was sent out, several reminder emails were sent to increase response rate until an acceptable response rate of 20-30% was reached.


The percentage of students that use each of the following modes as their primary means of transportation to get to and from campus::
Percentage (0-100)
Commute with only the driver in the vehicle (excluding motorcycles and scooters) 21.40
Walk, bicycle, or use other non-motorized means 16
Vanpool or carpool 4.40
Take a campus shuttle or public transportation 58.20
Use a motorcycle, scooter or moped ---

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.