Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Student Commuting

This purpose of this research is to improve the estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from student commuting, to develop a better understanding of the determinants of students’ transportation choices, and to explore students’ intentions and willingness to change their transportation behavior to reduce carbon emissions. The proposed research builds on a unique opportunity to work with USC’s Office of Sustainability to conduct a sustainability survey that includes questions about student commuting. Currently, there is a lack of student commuting data at USC and, consequently, there exist only very rough estimates of GHG emissions from student commuting. The proposed research will substantially improve the estimates of commuting behavior and associated GHG emissions at USC. The research will also review existing methods to reduce GHG emissions from student commuting at other universities and will determine the best methods and processes to reduce commuting emissions at USC. The study will further improve our understanding of the underlying factors that influence students’ transportation choices and assist in developing messages and incentives to change students’ commuting behavior to reduce GHG emissions. The unique aspects of this study are the combined analysis of student commuting and carbon emissions and the use of innovative multiattribute utility models to predict the effectiveness of nudging and incentives to reduce carbon emissions from student commuting. The results and insights of this research can be generalized to other universities and large organizations located in urban settings.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $95075
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3551747109

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Department of Transportation

  Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC    20590

  Department of Transportation

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  METRANS Transportation Center

  University of Southern California
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90089-0626
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Southern California, Los Angeles

  University Park Campus
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90089
• Start Date: 20220815
• Expected Completion Date: 20230814
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: College students; Commuting; Environmental impacts; Greenhouse gases; Incentives; Travel behavior; Universities and colleges
• Subject Areas: Environment; Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01854741
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research
• Contract Numbers: 69A3551747109
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Aug 16 2022 6:33PM