University of Southern California
OP-16: Commute Modal Split

USC Transportation surveys all USC student, staff, faculty and postdoc employees annually to track how they commute to and from campus and reports the results to the South Coast California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), as required by law. The survey is voluntary, but in 2023 the SCAQMD survey achieved a final response rate of 13% of all students (undergraduate and graduate students combined). The survey asks respondents to describe how they got to work each day of a specific week. In 2023, the survey was based on commuting data between Monday (03/20/23 through Friday (03/24/23).

For this credit, respondents to the 2023 SCAQMD survey are representing the total number of USC employees (either Students or Staff/Faculty/Postdocs). The data in the "Optional Fields" below represents the breakdown of commuters per commute mode as a percentage of total respondents to the 2023 survey. This breakdown was used to calculate that 81.6% of student employees use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation.

USC Transportation surveys all USC student, staff, faculty and postdoc employees annually to track how they commute to and from campus and reports the results to the South Coast California Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), as required by law. The survey is voluntary, but in 2023 the SCAQMD survey achieved a final response rate of 84% of all non-student employees (Staff/Faculty/Postdocs). The survey asks respondents to describe how they got to work each day of a specific week. In 2023, the survey was based on commuting data between Monday (03/20/23 through Friday (03/24/23).

For this credit, respondents to the 2023 SCAQMD survey are representing the total number of USC employees (either Students or Staff/Faculty/Postdocs). The data in the "Optional Fields" below represents the breakdown of commuters per commute mode as a percentage of total respondents to the 2023 survey. This breakdown was used to calculate that 57.2% of staff/faculty and postdoc employees use more sustainable commuting options as their primary mode of transportation.

*Note in the SCAQMD 2023 survey, there is a commuting category called 'Rail/Plane'. If the One Way Mileage was < 400, we assumed the person took Rail and qualified it as 'Public Transportation". If the One Way Mileage was >400, then we assumed the person took a Plane and qualified it as "Drive Alone' based on the available STARS categories below.

Data current as of 11/06/2023
The data from the annual SCAQMD survey demonstrates an 11% drop in employee single-occupancy vehicle use between 2014-2023 (see attached file with 2020 and 2021 omitted due to Covid19 shutdowns). USC’s required target Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR) – or the weighted average number of occupants in each vehicle that drives to campus – is 1.50. The university has outperformed this target every year for over a decade. USC's 2023 AVR was 2.59, meaning that, on average, vehicles coming to campus in 2023 had an average of 2 occupants or more.

Note, the attached datafile combines all employee commuting data (students, staff, faculty and postdocs).

Additional information on commute options at USC:
-Student U-Pass Program (Free LA Metro Pass- Rail/Bus):
https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/student-u-pass/
- Faculty & staff public transit subsidy: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/employee-subsidy/
- Traveler program: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/traveler/
-Commuter Cost Calculator: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/commuter-cost-calculator/
- Carpooling: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/carpool/
- Public transportation: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/public-transportation/
- Disabled Access To Road Transportation (DART): https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/disabled-access-to-road-transportation-dart/
- Zipcar: https://transnet.usc.edu/index.php/zipcar/