University of New Hampshire
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

UNH utilizes a combination of strategies to gather data about student commuting, including the use of surveys, parking permit data, and transit ridership data.

Comprehensive standardized transportation surveys are generally completed every five years, sponsored by UNH Facilities in partnership with the Transportation Policy Committee and the Energy Task Force. Though the comprehensive 2021 survey was delayed due to disruptions from the global pandemic, data collection was augmented with a thorough analysis including historic emissions calculations, transit ridership, parking permit applications, and student housing data on/in close proximity to campus through fiscal year 2020. Lead by Sustainability Institute staff in collaboration with the Department of Campus Planning, the analysis informed logical assumptions about the most recent commuting years and yielded no evidence to suggest that there have been drastic changes to UNH's student commuting patterns including modes, distances, and frequency prior to the pandemic. The 2016 survey has remained relevant through non-COVID times and was done professionally, with a combination of phone surveys to a random sample of the university commuting populations (faculty, staff and students), and with a web-based component. Student commuting information is based on pre-COVID-19 commuting patterns.

Employee data is based on pre-COVID-19 commuting patterns.
A large increase in remote learning and work has occurred over the past two years, and we anticipate the shift to remote work will remain a factor for some portion of staff moving forward, but the scale of that shift remains to be seen. As part of the move to re-opening campus, exploration of more flexible work policies and better space utilization approaches to reflect a potential long-term move toward increased remote work is ongoing.
In the meantime for this submission, data about commute modes, distances, and frequency were estimated with results from a thorough analysis of parking permit applications and transit ridership through fiscal year 2020 which augmented the 2016 comprehensive standardized transportation survey. (The 2021 survey was delayed due to disruptions from the global pandemic.) The analysis informed logical assumptions about the most recent commuting years and yielded no evidence to suggest that there have been drastic changes to UNH's employee commuting patterns prior to the pandemic. The 2016 survey and earlier surveys have been completed by the UNH Survey Center and sponsored by UNH Facilities in partnership with the Transportation Policy Committee and Energy Task Force. The professional survey combines phone surveys to a random sample of the university commuting populations (faculty, staff and students) with a web-based component.

In 2020 and 2021 UNH did a retrospective look at its historical commuting data and synthesized the results; see https://unh.app.box.com/file/815585516601?s=5815xj4srb3ltu1sbsacdpr8ictwxy3b

Primary data from 2016 Transportation Survey was updated to reflect increase in Durham off-campus housing, changes to the public transit system, run by UNH, and parking permit sales.

See also http://www.unh.edu/transportation/tpc/